Majestic Domestic

Chocolate Custard & Meringue Pie

2012-02-13T21:00:00.001-05:00

On Saturday night, my darling uncle was in town. He gave my fiance and I the nicest engagement presents last time I saw him: a set of cookbooks for pie and cobblers and two lovely pie dishes. When I heard he was in town, I whipped up this pie to bring to my parents' house for dinner, just to thank him again.

Also, I was taught to never go to someone's house for dinner without something in your hand, be it a bottle of wine or food. This rule bodes well for me: last time I threw a dinner party I got enough wine from my guests to last me through January! Now, it's back to the five-dollar stuff with the twist-off bottle that I could probably use to take paint off the wall. Time to throw another dinner party, I guess.

This is a perfect Valentine's Day or anytime dessert that anyone can make. If you've never made meringue before, fear not! It's actually super easy, as long as you have an electric mixer.

The recipe is adapted from here.

You'll need:

One pie crust
1 1/4 cups sugar (you can use white sugar or unprocessed turbinado sugar)
6 Tbs. cocoa powder
6 Tbs. whole wheat flour
1 pinch salt
6 eggs, separated
3 cups milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the crust and place in in the pie dish. Bake for twenty minutes or until golden- you can use pie weights if you have them. I just poked it with a fork to allow steam to escape.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa powder, flour, salt, milk, vanilla, and egg yolks over medium heat. Whisk slowly and very well- if you don't, you'll get weird little scrambled egg pieces in your custard. OK here's the problem: if I say "whisk occasionally," you'll forget to whisk it and find burned milk and scrambled eggs in your pan. If I say "whisk constantly," you're scared you'll have to slave over the stove and forget about this recipe and stop reading my blog. So I'll say, "whisk often."

The custard will begin to boil and thicken. We want it to be a pudding-like consistency: the thicker the better. This takes about half an hour. Once it's thick enough, spoon it into the pie crust.

Okay, meringue time! I was terrified of meringue for so long, until I got my <3 stand mixer <3. True love. You can use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment, though! The point of meringue is to whip the egg whites until they're "stiff and glossy." You'll know when this is, because.... they'll get really glossy-looking and will be stiff. You want them stiff enough that you can turn the bowl upside down without them moving.

Put the egg whites in a very clean bowl. Make sure there's no yolk or eggshell in them. Whip on the highest speed until they get foamy, about 45 seconds or so. Add the 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.

Now, I got fancy here and put them in a piping bag because it's more fun and looks prettier. I used a 16-inch piping bag with a Wilton 2D tip. If you're scared of piping bags, or don't have one, you can just glop the meringue on with a spoon and play with it until you get higher peaks, but just do the piping bag! Please! It's so pretty! And fun, like playing with shaving cream in preschool! Just doooo ittttttt.

Okay, once the meringue is on your pie in whatever fashion you've chosen, put it in the 350 degree oven. You want it to brown all over, like a perfectly toasted marshmallow but NOT BURN. Essential point there. My weirdo oven took like fifteen minutes for this, but since everyone's oven is different, start with five-minute intervals. Chill until ready to serve.

Stuffing- No, Not the Stovetop Kind!

2012-02-10T00:09:00.002-05:00

Ok, I'll admit it. When I was a kid, I loved Stovetop Stuffing.

But as a grownup who's pretty knowledgable about nutrition, I've realized that it's processed food that's full of salt and preservatives that are just terrible for you.

What's a person to do when you (or your significant other) are craving that carb-filled goodness?

Make your own stuffing, duh! It's really not that hard. Trust me.

OK, we can do it the easy way or the slightly-more-time-consuming-but-still-not-that-hard way.

Ingredients:

Bread crumbs in a bag (preferably whole wheat, in the stuffing section of the grocery store. The seasoned are good.) or a day-old baguette
2 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth- low sodium! Or better yet, make your own. I really do care about your blood pressure.
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
Butter, 2 Tbs. You can use Earth Balance if you want it to be vegan or a little healthier.
1 head celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 apple, cored and chopped. Peeled if you like, but I hate peeling so much that I just leave the skins on.
1 bunch fresh sage, chopped or 2 Tbs. dried sage
salt and pepper to taste
Another 2 Tbs. butter/earth balance, melted.

Directions:

OK, here's where we differentiate between the easy way or the slightly-more-time-consuming-but-still-not-that-hard way. If you're going the latter, cut up your baguette into cubes. Place under a 350 degree oven on a cookie sheet until they're crispy and crouton-y. If you choose the easy way, just open up the bag of stuffing crumbs.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrots and celery. Cook for five minutes while you open a bottle of wine, preferably pinot noir.
Pour a glass of pinot noir. Oh look, your veggies are getting softer! Throw in the onions and apples.
After about ten minutes, throw in the garlic and sage. The veggies and apples should be getting soft. If the pan gets a little dry, add some more butter or olive oil.
More wine, please.
OK, now your veggies should be tender and you should be well-liquored with the wine. Perfect! Get out a big bowl. Throw in the tender veggies with the bread crumbs. Toss together until well-combined. Add broth until the mixture is damp but not soaking wet. You'll need some extra broth for baking. Add the melted butter, salt, and pepper and toss again until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Put in a casserole dish. You can cook it right away on 350, or you can cover and wait a few days. It usually takes about an hour to cook. Check on it every twenty minutes or so. If it's dry, add some more broth.

My fiance loves this recipe! He requests it all the time. It's the best.

Four Ingredient Sweet Potato Casserole

2012-02-07T12:32:00.000-05:00

Sweet potatoes are arguably the most delicious vegetable ever. Now, I bet when you think sweet potatoes you think of the Thanksgiving stuff with the congealed marshmallows on the top. Well, I've adapted those to be healthier and much, much tastier!

And guess what: only four ingredients!

Ingredients:

Six sweet potatoes
2 Tbs. agave nectar (available in the health section of the grocery store- you can use maple syrup if you can't find it. But REAL, 100% maple syrup, not the corn syrup stuff!)
2 Tbs. butter or Earth Balance
salt to taste

OK, if you know me you know how much I hate peeling vegetables or fruits. Hate with a capital "H." The good thing is, I've adapted my cooking so I almost never have to peel things, ever. Also, roasting the sweet potatoes give a much better flavor than just boiling them. They caramelize, which means you don't have to add as much sweetener, and the sweet potato flavor really develops nicely.

Step One: Set the oven to 400 degrees with the rack in the middle. Put the sweet potatoes on a foil-lined cookie sheet and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Roast for 2 hours. You should be able to easily pierce them with a fork, and they should be mushy. The skin should be crunchy and the sweet potato flesh should be sunken in a little: you want to be able to easily peel the skin away when they cool.

Step Two: Let the sweet potatoes cool. (Full disclosure: I never wait for them to cool because I have no patience and usually burn my fingers on this step). Take a knife and slice the skin lengthwise. You should be able to just peel the skin away with your fingers. Throw the sweet potatoes in a big bowl.

Step Three: Melt the butter/Earth Balance. Pour it and the agave nectar in with the potatoes and mash really well with a potato masher.

Step Four: Add salt to taste, and adjust the agave nectar if you want it to be a little sweeter.

Step Five: Spread in a casserole dish. This freezes really well, if you're not going to eat it right away. Bake it on 350 for twenty minutes before eating, until it's warm and the top turns brown.

This is one of my favorite dishes! You can also make it for one person. I used to have this for dinner all the time in my first semester of law school when I lived by myself. Just bake one potato, use 1/2 Tbsp. of agave nectar and 1 Tbs. of butter or Earth Balance.

Awesome News!

2012-02-06T18:12:00.003-05:00

Guess what? I have some awesome news!

I got a gig as a content contributor for HelloBrit.com, Brit Morin's awesome new lifestyle/cooking/crafting blog.

Check out my first post!

Easy Afternoon Craft: Wall Art

2012-02-05T20:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a really easy and inexpensive craft you can finish in an afternoon. I got the idea from Pinterest, but who the heck is going to spend $100 on buying something like this if you can make it for under $10?

I'm not usually one for sticking "inspirational" quotes or lyrics all over the house, but I think there are cute ways to incorporate some of your favorite sayings or songs into your life without having stuff like
~~** LiVe * LaUgH * LoVe **~~ in twelve-inch letters on your kitchen wall.

Supplies:

Wood board from craft store
Acrylic paint: I used Martha Stewart's brand from Michael's, but you could use a less expensive brand
Paint brush or sponge
Paint pen
Ruler
Sandpaper- you want the stuff with a rougher grit, not too fine.

Step One: Put down some newspaper. Paint one coat of paint on the wood board. Let dry.

Step Two: Pick a saying or song you like. I used "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and "Passenger Seat" by Death Cab for Cutie. My fiance and I were in a long distance relationship for four years, and never really felt at home in dorm rooms or our parents' houses; only when we finally moved in together. "Passenger Seat" was a song we used to listen to when we started dating in high school and would go on long drives together early in the morning.

Step Three: Use a ruler to roughly measure where you'll be writing the letters so they're not weirdly spaced. Practice on a sheet of scrap paper, if you're a perfectionist. You can see on the grey one I made that I wasn't very good with keeping the bottom rows straight because I was rushing. Don't rush!

Step Four: Write out the saying or song you chose using a paint pen. Let dry.

Step Five: Use sandpaper to sand down the edges and the front of the board. I wanted mine to look weathered, not too new.

Step Six: You can lean these on a shelf like I did. Or, you can go to Walmart or Target in the home improvement section and buy the saw-tooth wall hangers that you can nail into the back, and hang them on your wall.

DIY Wedding Save-the-Dates & some DIY stationary tips

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

First of all, what's a save-the-date and why do so many brides send them out now?

Second of all, how do you make them without spending a ton of your wedding budget?

Third of all, doesn't it take like a thousand hours and slave labor from bridesmaids?

Here are our completed save-the-dates, click through to learn how to make them and get some tips on how to make your own!

A save-the-date (sometimes unfortunately shortened to "STD") is an early reminder of your wedding date. Etiquette holds that wedding invites go out about six weeks before the wedding. Many people choose save-the-dates because if there's travel involved in getting to a wedding, or if the event is held during the popular summer months, they want to give their guests an opportunity to mark their calendars in time.

(I did a previous post on some DIY invitation tips here.)

So, why make your own save-the-dates?

Well, I'm a pretty particular person. I know what I like and if I don't see it, I make it myself. I also was paying for the save-the-dates myself and had a $100 limit and a 130-person list. All of the really cute, non-cheesy save-the-dates I saw ran over my budget and I thought... Let's just do it ourselves!

Also, you can make these as complex or as simple as you want. The ones I made take a while, but you can do a way simpler version if that's your style. It's all up to you! Isn't that great?

Step One: Set a date, silly!

Once you set a date and venue, I suggest clicking around on Pinterest and other wedding blogs to get an idea of what you like in terms of the look of a save-the-date.

From what I've seen, a lot of people get professional engagement shoots done for these things. This is totes not necessary, especially if you're on a budget. Personally, I think it's another Wedding-Industrial-Complex ploy to get another $500 out of the bride. My fiance and I went to a local photographer and got an inexpensive portrait taken. You could just pick a really cute photo of the two of you. Believe me, you don't need an "engagement shoot" with five hundred proofs to do inexpensive save-the-dates.

Here are some ideas for you to browse:

Martha Stewart

Step Two: Planning

Please don't go out and buy your supplies before planning what you want your save-the-dates to look like! Once I decided on the shape, general idea, and wording, I played around with dimensions in Microsoft Word for awhile. Okay, like four hours straight. I said I was very particular!

Let's say you picked your dimensions. Make a text box in word to those dimensions, print it out, and play around with it. You don't want to invest in supplies if things won't fit or you change your mind!

Step Three: Supplies

I have a love affair with The Paper Source. No, they're not paying me to say this. I really just love them. However, things at the Paper Source can get a little pricey if you don't find them on sale. I suggest, once you get an idea of what you like, getting some coupons for a craft store and head in. Also, believe it or not, but Walmart is starting to develop an awesome crafts section. Set your budget and stick to it!

Remember, square shaped or round shaped envelopes cost more money to mail.
If you've planned well, you should be pretty sure of how many supplies you need, but double-check!
My advice: buy a small number of supplies first to test out before buy enough for 100+ save-the-dates, or at least save your receipt so you can return the junk you don't like.

I chose these cards. My beloved Paper Source has so many gorgeous colors to choose from. You could switch up the colors in your envelopes and cards, or layer different sized cards to get a textured effect.

Michael's has standard 4X6 cards that work really well, too. You find them near the scrapbooking section.

Here are my supplies:

Grey and purple Martha Stewart glitter

Sticky glue tape

Glitter tray to catch all that glitter

Paper Source cards in superfine soft white

Paper source envelopes in grape

Paper source stamps

Stamp pads from Michael's

Teensy prints of our engagement portrait

Glue dots for the photos

Stamp making kit

Most of this stuff I got on sale!

Step Four: Set aside time, Netflix, and a glass of wine!

Pick a Sunday afternoon, or as I call it, crafternoon. Turn on a really fun show like "RuPaul's Drag Race" or my new fave, "Downton Abbey." (Can we talk about Michael and Mary? Rip my heart out!)
Here's an aside: I carved my own stamp, but I highly recommend against it for more intricate stuff like letters. It took forever and came out weird, so I had to stamp each card then trace over with a marker. It might be easier to find a stamp-maker on Etsy, you can find some for about $20!
Make your first save-the-date, so you see what they look like all finished. It will give you motivation to keep going when you're up to your elbows in glitter.
Come up with a system. My system was to do each step at a time for each card. With all that glitter, it's impossible to do them separately. Order of business:

Put glue strip on far left. Trim edges. Put in glitter tray. Pour grey glitter.
Repeat step one with purple glitter
Stamp on lower right corner
Stamp date, go over with marker
Place photo on with glue dot
Place in envelope

If you have friends or bridesmaids to help, invite them over but please don't be a psycho bridezilla about it. I did mine myself because I have fear of being a bridezilla and forcing my friends into crafting things for me.

Remember, you don't have to finish them in one day!

Step Five:

Once you finish your cards and finalize your list, send them out. This can be done from a year to six months before the wedding.

Don't send them any later than six months before, because then there's no point in even sending a save-the-date!
If you send someone a save the date, you MUST invite him or her to the wedding. This is a definite must.

If you have any questions or ideas, please leave a comment!

Back in Business!

2012-02-02T20:47:00.001-05:00

Good news... Majestic Domestic is back in business!

Greetings to all my readers, new and old! What's happened in the last year and a half since my last post?

Well, I got a full scholarship to law school, graduated college, got engaged, and started the dreaded 1L year. (That's what they call the first year of law school. Yes, it's as awful as everyone says it is).

I'm so excited to restart this blog. So many fun things are coming along, including new recipes, tutorials, and crafts! Get ready!

Cupcakes for a Crowd

2010-07-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was asked to make cupcakes for a rehearsal dinner. A LOT of cupcakes. 100 to be exact. I was actually really excited about it. However, cooking cupcakes for a crowd is a lot different than making a batch of 12 for a few friends. There are some rules you have to follow.

If you're anything like me, you'll want to make a zillion different flavors and fancy toppings. However, you need to be cognizant of a number of different factors.
Number: 100 cupcakes isn't really that daunting: a normal batch is 24 or 25, so I had to make four batches. Always make sure you make extra, though: in case something goes wrong, or in case you want to taste one. I'm serious! You really should taste them to make sure you're not feeding guests something gross. I give permission to sneak one before you send them out.

S'mores cupcake

Tastes: I reallllly wanted to make a peanut-butter chocolate batch, but the problem with this is you never know if people are allergic to something like peanuts. Because peanut allergies are pretty prevalent, I steered clear of this idea. You may want to consider a lactose-free, gluten-free, or vegan option. The cupcakes I served were: s'mores cupcake, red velvet cupcake, brownie cupcake, and blueberry cheesecake cupcake. Try and incorporate at least one chocolate-y one and one vanilla-y one: that way, people who have simple (or boring) tastes will be satisfied. Also, ask the host of the party if he or she prefers any particular flavor.

Weather: My cupcakes were being served at an outdoor picnic in June, and I had to transport them through a five hour car ride with only air conditioning to stop the frosting from getting gross. Weather has a huge effect on which recipes you can use. It also affects the frosting. I wanted to make this, from Martha Stewart:

Image via

but once I started to make the little meringue roses, the humidity turned them into a soft, chewy mess. I decided just to make buttercream frosting.

The problem with buttercream is, well, the butter. I learned in a cake decorating class to use vegetable shortening instead, but butter tastes MUCH better, obviously. I had a dilemma, but I decided to sacrifice a little bit of taste in order to not make everyone sick. Bride and wedding party with food poisioning does not a good wedding make.

I used a basic buttercream recipe, but subsituted vegetable shortening and butter & vanilla flavoring for the actual butter. The frosting tasted very good, and no one noticed that I didn't use the "real thing."

Time: I am a cake-made-from-scratch devotee, and abhor the cookie-cutter taste of boxed cake and canned frosting. Make sure you have enough time to make the cake and the frosting, and decorate cupcakes BEFORE the event. Or else, you might have to resort to Duncan Hines at the last minute.

Get a helper! My brother's girlfriend helped me decorate. My boyfriend made the entire batch of brownie cupcakes by himself. You'll need some help with this job!

Blueberry cupcakes. Excuse the smudge on my camera lens!

Timeline of Making Cupcakes for A Crowd

Let's say your event is in a month (four weeks) from today. When do you start baking? When can you make frosting? You don't want your cake to get dry and stale, but you don't have time to make 100 cupcakes the night before!! What do you do?!

Chill out.

Brownie cupcakes

Up to a month ahead: Bake your cupcakes (just ensure that they are recipes that can be frozen: if you need to add filling wait until right before you decorate it). Put them in an airtight container, and freeze them until ready to decorate. You can make a batch a week and still be on schedule. Just don't refridgerate them. Frozen cupcakes can be thawed and taste as moist and delicious as the moment they were taken out of the oven. Refridgerators, unlike freezers, dry cupcakes out and ruin the taste. When ready to decorate, thaw the cupcakes, and get to work!

Up to five days ahead: If you have some extra time, make the frosting and refridgerate it. Before decorating, whip it with a mixer until it's back at the normal consistency.

The day before: Decorate your cupcakes!

When transporting, be sure your vehicle has air conditioning, and the cupcakes are secure in either a sturdy box or a cupcake holder. Presentation is important, so make a cupcake stand!

Also, another nice idea is to make a menu of the cupcakes you're serving, so people know what they are.

Hopefully, everything will go swimmingly, guests will love your creations, and all your hard work will pay off!

Make Your Own Cupcake Stand!

2010-07-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

Cupcakes are all the rage these days. And what better way to display them than on a whimsical cupcake stand? Most cupcake stands are pretty expensive, though, and only hold a few.

For my cousin's rehearsal dinner, I was asked to make a whole lot of cupcakes. My aunt and I got the idea to make our own cupcake stand, and it looked great!

It looks complicated to make, but it's actually really easy, and you only need a few inexpensive supplies.

Step One: Get your supplies together. For this three-tier one, you'll need two large pieces of foam core, newspaper, a pencil, an exacto knife (the thinner the blade, the better), colorful paper (we bought about 10 individual sheets at a craft store), colorful ribbon, a glue stick, and a hot glue gun. You'll also need a large work space.

Step Two: Cut your foam core into three large circles. To get a perfect circle, you need to make a square. My aunt is one of the craftiest people I know and has a degree in fine art, so she was the perfect person to teach me how to do this craft with. Take a piece of newspaper, and fold it into quarters. Using a ruler. measure a straight line out from the folded corner, and make an arc. Cut out this arc, and trace it on the foam core four times, to make a circle. Cut the circle out carefully, using the exacto knife. You'll need to make three circles, one for each tier.

Here's what the newspaper arc will look like.

Here are our three tiers.

Step Three: You'll need to make the columns that hold the tiers up. This was the trickiest part for us. Using the foam core scraps, cut four rectangles, about four inches high and three inches wide. Cut out a very thin rectangle sliver in each of them, and push two of the rectangles together, and level them off. When finished, it will look like a + if viewed from the top. Make two of these.

Measure the center of the bottom two tiers, and make a small to mark them. Also, measure the center of the bottom of the top two tiers, which will make it easier to put them all together later on. Then, hot glue the columns to the tiers, making sure that they are stable. Don't glue the tiers together, yet!

Step Four: Get out your colorful paper.

Using your newspaper circles, cut out the paper to fit each foam core. This time, use one piece of paper for each arc you cut out. The paper will be too small to cut out a whole circle (with the exception of the top tier), so just cut out four arcs for each tier.

Cut the pointy end of each arc like this, so it fits around the column. Use a glue stick to secure it to the foam core. Cover all the tiers in paper, cutting off any excess. Next, measure the rectangles and cover them in paper as well. I'll do the math for you: you'll need 16 rectangle pieces, cut to size.

Step Five:

Measure ribbon to put around the edge of each circle. You can also just do it as you go, and cut off the excess. Hot glue it to the edge, but be careful: we burned ourselves about 1000 times. You'll have to work fast to secure the ribbon before the hot glue dries.

Next, measure ribbon to put on the edges of the columns.

Et voila! You're done! Now stack that baby up with cupcakes, and enjoy!

Perfect Key Lime Pie

2010-06-13T12:52:00.000-04:00

I'd never really had key lime pie before, until I saw key limes in the grocery store and inspiration struck. Key limes are tiny, round little limes. They have a very tart, distinctive flavor.

I served this recipe on Friday night, and my family unanimously told me it's the best key lime pie they'd ever tasted. It's deceptively simple, though: only four ingredients!

You'll need a bag of key limes, a can of condensed milk, kosher salt, and two egg yolks. That's it. Well, if you have any semblance of sanity, you'll need an electric juicer as well.

The only thing that sucks about key limes is that because they're so small, they're a pain in the neck to juice. We mysteriously found one of those enormous Jack LaLanne Power Juicers in our garage a few months ago. No one knew who bought it or where it came from, but it's enormously helpful in this recipe.

Step one: Preheat the oven to 350. Cut in half about ten key limes. You can juice them manually, but it will be difficult. You'll need 1/2 cup of juice. Key lime juice is kind of a cool color: it's not translucent like regular citrus juice. It's light green and opaque.

Step Two: Pour one 14-ounce can of condensed milk into a medium-sized bowl. Pour in your lime juice.

Step Three: Lightly whisk two egg yolks and add them to the mixture. Add in a small pinch of kosher salt. Whisk to combine.

Step Four: Pour into a pre-baked crust. I whipped up a quick tart crust, but you could just as easily use a store-bought one.

Step Five: Time for meringue! Pour two egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add two tablespoons of sugar and whip on high speed until foamy. Add two more tablespoons of sugar and whip until stiff, glossy peaks form, about five minutes.

Step Six: Spoon the meringue onto the pie. I tried to pipe it on, but accidentally used the wrong tip, so I just plopped it on instead.

Step Seven: Bake for twenty minutes, or until the meringue is baked and the tips have browned.

Serve chilled, within twenty-four hours. I can't recommend this highly enough: it tastes exactly like summer.

Pork Chops with Apple-Sage Sauce

2010-06-13T12:32:00.000-04:00

I'm not really a meat eater. I'm pretty sure that I could happily never eat meat again in my life and not even notice. However, the men in my life freak out when I serve them something sans dead animal.

I could craft the most delicious, bountiful vegetarian meal on the planet, and they'd still whine that there's not enough foooood.

So, one night I decided to make pork chops. When I was little, my dad used to make pork chops on his classic George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine (that's a mouthful) and serve it with a jar of apple sauce.

When I made pork chops, I decided to go a little more highbrow. I knew I wanted to incorporate apples, and decided that sage would also be a good accompaniment. I searched high and low and couldn't find a suitable recipe, so I just made one up.

Step One: Start with a few leaves of fresh sage and a few cloves of garlic.

Remove the skins from the garlic and place the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process until they are very finely ground.

Step Two: You'll need pork chops. I got quite a few: about 8 or 10 so I could have leftovers to feed the beasts the next night.

Transfer your sage/garlic mixture to a small bowl, add some kosher salt and pepper, and stir to combine.

Season both sides of your chops with the mixture.

Step Three: Put a large skillet on the stove, on very high heat. Pour in a little olive oil. When the pan is heated, throw on a few pork chops. We're going to sear them on each side, until they are brown.

This should take about 1-2 minutes for each side. Make sure you're careful, because the fat from the pork, as well as the oil, might spatter. Add more oil as needed. Using kitchen tongs, transfer the chops to a foil-lined baking sheet as they are finished.

This is what they should look like when done: nice and golden brown on both sides.

Step Four: Turn the heat on your skillet down to medium-high. Using a mixture of white wine and apple-cider vinegar, deglaze the pan (get all the browned bits off by pouring the liquid on). The liquid and alcohol will evaporate and burn off the browned bits.

Step Five: Turn the heat down the medium, and add a few tablespoons of olive oil or butter (your preference). Chop up an onion or two (again, your preference) and add to the pan. Cook until softened and browned.

Step Six: While the onion is cooking, core/peel/slice about three apples, as shown below.

Add them to the pan with the onions. Chop up a medium-sized bunch of sage leaves, and throw them in as well. Add about one and a half cups of water, and a half a cup of white wine. Cover and cook until apples are soft, about 20-30 mins. Add more water/wine as needed.

Step Seven:
I didn't add photos for these because I have a crappy camera and the photos didn't come out well. Preheat your oven to 375. Place the chops in a single layer in a baking pan (I had to use two). Using a slotted spoon, scoop the apples out of the sauce and on top of the chops.

Step Eight: Add a few tablespoons of flour to the liquid in the pan. Whisk until thickened: now you'll have a gravy. Season with salt/pepper/dried sage, and pour on top of the chops. Cover and bake in the oven for about an hour, or until pork measures 160 degrees on a kitchen thermometer.

I baked these in a convection oven, and they smelled amazing, even to an unenthusiastic meat eater like me. My family promptly devoured them, and keep asking me to make it again.

Serve with mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Macarons for Beginners

2010-05-30T12:32:00.000-04:00

Macarons are, in the words of Derek Zoolander, "so hot right now." I've even heard them referred to as the "new cupcake." Blasphemy!

Anyways, if you regularly peruse food blogs, you've most likely seen many recipes for them lately. Their recipe is deceivingly simple, but they're notoriously difficult to make. One of my BFF's is in Paris for the semester, and told me that they were gross. However, I decided to take a shot at them.

Here's what perfect macarons look like:

Image via

I found a zillion recipes online and in cookbooks, each slightly different from the other. I used a mixture of these two.

1. Get your ingredients out. This recipe is frustrating for an American like me, who has no concept of the metric system. But macaron recipes are almost always measured in grams, so the cookies have exactly the right proportion of everything. So I gritted my teeth and bought a kitchen scale. Macarons need four ingredients: egg whites, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and almonds.
There's also some specialty baking stuff you will need: gel food coloring, large pastry bag, #807 pastry tip, food processor or blender.

2. Get your egg whites ready. Do this the night before you make them, because they need to "age" for at least twenty four hours. I told you, this recipe is finicky. You'll need 120 grams of egg whites. Crack them into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave on the counter for at least 24 hours.

3. Measure out 150g. almonds. Not the roasted kind, not the salted kind, just... almonds.

4. Pour them in the bowl of a food processor. If you don't have one, you could use a blender, but a processor is far preferable. Pour on top 150g. confectioner's sugar.

Process the almonds and sugar together until the almonds are very finely ground. Transfer them to a medium bowl.

5. Whip the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer) until they are foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar.

This is when you add your coloring as well. You're technically supposed to use powdered coloring so you don't mess with the proportions, but I couldn't find any. I just used gel food coloring instead. Whatever you do, don't use the water-based stuff in the little squeezy bottles. Use a dab of the gel stuff and you should be set. Whip until the egg whites have formed a glossy meringue with stiff peaks. Don't overbeat until they are dry and grainy.

6. Sprinkle the almond mixture on top. Quickly fold until combined, using as few strokes as possible.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and get out your pastry bag and tip.

7. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Place the tip inside the pastry bag, and fill with your macaron batter. Pipe the batter into small circles.

I liked how the macarons perfectly matched my blackberry case. That wasn't planned.
Your macarons may have a little bit of a bump on the top. This is easily fixed.

Get a small bowl of confectioner's sugar and dip your finger in it. Then, press down on the bump and gently flatten it out.

Now, I didn't pipe my macarons perfectly, as you can see. It was 1:00 in the morning and I just wanted to go to bed. As you'll see in the next few minutes, it's important to pipe them as uniformly and perfectly as possible.

8. Let them sit on the counter for about an hour. This is so the little "feet" will form at the bottom.

9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Take out and let cool.

As you can see, some came out well and others were lopsided. This is because I a) put too much batter down at times and b) didn't pipe all of them evenly. Don't make my mistakes! However, they did taste delicious.

10. You can fill these with pretty much anything. See here for some ideas. I used chocolate ganache, because it's delicious and so easy to make. Here's how you do it: put 6 oz. chocolate chips in a bowl. Heat up 2/3 cup heavy cream on the stove, until it simmers. Pour the cream over the chocolate and mix. Voila!

11. Spread a little bit of ganache on the flat side of a macaron.

Sandwich another macaron on top.

And you're finished! They're so yummy, and not gross like my friend said they were!

They're not as beautiful as they could have been, but I'm making some more this week and I'll be sure to share the results!

Grilled Fruit Salad

2010-05-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I know, I know. Worst food blogger ever. The good news is, during my hiatus, I worked my butt off in school, secured two internships, and ended the semester with a 4.0. So, my hard work and neglect of my poor little blog has paid off.

The good news also is that I have scores of summer recipes to put up! Yippee!

The first is grilled fruit salad. Do you love fruit salad, but hate when they load it up with the bland, gross stuff like melons and canteloupes? Well, this is the recipe for you, baby.

First, you'll need a pineapple, three mangoes, and three nectarines.

1. Cut your pineapple as shown in the photo above. Place it on a cutting board, and get a sharp knife. Cut the top off. Cut down each side, but don't cut so deep that you take out all the brown "eyes." Cut the eyes out with a knife. Then, cut it into medium-sized chunks.

2. Take out your mangoes. Mangoes are a pain in the neck to cut, because their pit has a really bizarre shape. As ridiculous as it sounds, Williams-Sonoma sells a mango pitter that you may actually want to buy if you use them a lot.

Peel the mango. If possible, get a minion to peel it for you. Peeling is the WORST cooking task ever.

Finally! It's peeled. Now, cut up the mangoes into large chunks. If you have nectarines (I forgot to buy them, so they're not shown here), peel them and quarter them.

3. If using the grill, heat it up to high and brush olive oil on the grilling part (official terminology right there). You can also use a grill basket instead, Grill it, flipping once, until the fruit has softened and there are grill marks on both sides.

4. If you don't want to or can't use a grill, for example if your little brother was told twenty times to clean it and fill up the propane tank and kept "forgetting," no worries! You can broil it under the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and heat up the broiler to "high." Move an oven rack till it's six inches away from the coils. Arrange your fruit in a single layer on the cookie sheet (you may have to use two) and broil it for three to five minutes on each side. The edges should be browning and the fruit should be softened.

5. Time to prepare the dressing! You'll need heavy cream, red wine vinegar, and sugar. Get 1/2 cup of heavy cream and pour it into a small bowl.

Add two teaspoons of red wine vinegar...

and two teaspoons of sugar...

And whisk together.

6. Arrange your fruit on a large platter.

And drizzle the dressing on the top. (Alternative serving option: whip the cream, vinegar, and sugar and serve in a bowl as an accompaniment).

Serve immediately, while the fruit is still warm. The heat from the grill or broiler causes the sugars in the fruit to caramelize, making it extra-delicious! Skip the bowl of boring cantaloupe and serve this instead at your summer barbecue!

Osso Bucco

2010-04-25T13:47:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday afternoon. I slept until 11. I have two term papers to write, two to finish, a conference proposal to draft, and a whole lot of cleaning to do. What am I doing writing this?! I need a diversion! Judge me if you will.

Osso bucco. It's an italian dish, made with veal shanks. According to some not-so-scholarly internet research I conducted, it means "hole of bone," which makes sense, because in the middle of each shank is a big bone with tons of delicious marrow in it.

This definitely isn't a dish for vegetarians, if you couldn't already tell.

Your first step is to procure veal shanks from your local butcher. If you're lucky, you can find them at the grocery store, but you really should go to a butcher. I tried TWO specialty grocery stores and TWO butchers before I could find them in stock. Luckily, the third one had enough for me the day I needed them. If you're making this for a party, definitely call ahead.

You'll need to ask for center-cut veal shanks, about two inches thick. Also, ask them to trim the fat for you. The ones that I got, which you see above, were pretty expensive, about $11.00 each. I justified this expense (to my dad) by saying that if you ordered this splendid gourmet meal in a restaurant, it would be a hell of a lot more than $11 a person. The good thing is, I went to a specialty butcher in my town, and they were of really high quality. I don't know if you could describe a body part of a dead baby cow as "beautiful," but if you could, these would be it.

Step One: Compile ingredients for the first round of cooking. You'll need two leeks, a few stalks of celery, fresh parsley and thyme, and a few carrots as well as a few tablespoons of butter. Melt the butter in a large dutch oven. While it's melting, wash the vegetables thoroughly and peel the carrots.

Take your leeks...

and chop them.

Do the same with the celery, herbs, and carrots, and put all the vegetables in the pot.

Stir and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 15-20 minutes.

Step Two: Now it's time to get your veal shanks ready. Mix two cups of flour with a few tablespoons of salt and pepper, as well as dried thyme and parsley. Line a cookie sheet in foil.

Take one of your shanks.

And dredge it in the flour mixture, making sure to cover all sides. Do this with the remaining shanks.

Step Three: Take your now-cooked vegetables out of the pot, and transfer them into a bowl. Turn the heat up until the pot is really, really hot. You'll now be braising the veal shanks, and the pot needs to be at the highest temperature possible.

Pour some olive oil into the pan, and using kitchen tongs, put two or three shanks in there. Be careful, because the fat and oil may start to sizzle, and you don't want to get burnt.

This part is pretty easy. You're just cooking the shanks until the outer skin turns a nice shade of brown. Keep adding olive oil as needed. You see all that gunk that's building up? Leave it there. That's the good stuff.

Make sure to brown in all sides, including the edges. My veal shanks were really thick, so I had to do kind of a balancing act to get them browned all over.

If you lean them against the pan, it works pretty well. These were the last shanks I did, and you can see that the pot is really brown. Don't worry! We'll take care of that in the next step. When all your shanks have been braised, put them back on the cookie sheet.

Step Four: Deglazing the pot. Turn the heat down a little bit, to medium-high. Get out a bottle of white wine. Making sure the kitchen fan is on and a few windows are open, slowly pour the wine into the pot. This is called deglazing, or getting all those yummy brown parts off the pan. The alcohol burns off and loosens them up, and they become a part of the sauce. The parts that get deglazed aren't burnt, and they actually are tasty and do add a lot to the dish. I couldn't get any pictures of this part, because there was a lot of steam. This step might take a few minutes, just keep pouring in more wine as needed.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and move a rack to the lower third.

Step Five: Transfer all of the vegetables back to the pan. Place the shanks on top of them. Now, pour in a few cups of beef or veal broth, enough to mostly cover the shanks. Then, pour in a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes, or use fresh diced tomatoes.

Cover your osso bucco with a lid and cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender and falling off the bone, about two hours or so.

Osso bucco is traditionally served with risotto, which I decided to make with this as well. I used some of the osso bucco sauce to cook the risotto, after it was almost done.

You can adapt this recipe that I have previously posted. Instead of chicken broth, use veal broth. In the last few additions of liquid, use 1/2 a cup of the osso bucco sauce instead of the broth. You could also mix in some diced tomatoes right before serving.

I also served it with asparagus. Here's the final dish:

Delish, and perfect for a special occasion!

Easiest and Most Delicious Asparagus Recipe Ever

2010-04-04T14:18:00.000-04:00

Asparagus is my most favorite vegetable ever. Well, one of them. And for some reason, people always end up destroying it by over-steaming or even boiling it. Now, no one like raw asparagus, but it definitely shouldn't be mushy. It should be warm, slightly softer than raw, but still have a nice crunch.

So I'm here to fix all that is wrong with the world, one recipe at a time. All you need for this is four ingredients: asparagus, lemon, garlic, and olive oil.

It's important to get the thinnest asparagus the store has. The closest to the width of a pencil, the better.

Step One: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and move a rack up close to the top. Not too close, but not in the middle of the oven either.

Step Two: After thoroughly washing them, cut the white part off the bottom of your asparagus. Throw them in a bowl. Mince a few cloves of garlic and toss the minced garlic with the asparagus.

Step Three: Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spread out the asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze a few lemons onto it.

Now, put it in the oven for about 7-10 minutes. At the seven minute mark, take one out and test it. If it's started to become a little soft, take them out.

Step Four: Spread them on a serving platter, and eat them! Mmm. So good.

Mini Cheesecakes

2010-04-04T14:06:00.002-04:00

My friend Kate's birthday is on Christmas Eve. This really sucks for her, because she usually gets "Christmas AND Birthday" presents, unlike the rest of us who have the two days more spread out. So, I usually like to make her something a little special.

She also has a beautiful two-year-old daughter, so I wanted to make something kid-sized for her to eat.

What's an intrepid cooking blogger to do?

Mini cheesecakes!

I've previously written about a cheesecake recipe on this site, but that was a Thanksgiving-y pumpkin cheesecake. Not apropos for the rest of the year.

As I've mentioned before, cheesecake is a finicky dessert. If you're a perfectionist, you won't want it to crack or have uneven color. The good thing about mini cheesecakes is that it doesn't really matter what they look like.

Get your ingredients together. You'll need: 32 oz. of cream cheese (4 of the 8 oz. packages, for you math-disinclined out there. You could get fat-free, but really. What's the point?), 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, 3/4 cup milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 1 Tbs. vanilla or almond extract, 1/4 cup flour.

For the crust, you'll need graham crackers and butter.

Step One: preheat your oven to 350 degrees. First, you're going to make the crust. Get out your food processor. If you don't have one, you could use a blender. If you don't have that, you can use a ziploc bag and a hammer, but that would be a little weird.

The original recipe says to use 15 graham crackers and 2 Tbs. of butter, but I used more. I'm pretty sure I doubled both. Cut me some slack here, I made this almost four months ago.

Break your grahams into smaller pieces and put them in a food processor. I'd do ten at a time, and keep adding more as the first batches get ground up. You don't want the pieces to be too big, or you'll mess up the machine.

Loving boyfriend took a break from playing World of Warcraft to help me make these.

Step Two: When you're done grinding up the graham crackers into tiny crumbs, transfer them to a bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave, and mix it in with the crumbs. You'll most likely have to use your hands. Mix it in until the butter has moistened all of the crumbs.

Step Three: Line cupcake tins with aluminum cupcake liners. The sturdier, the better: I actually used the ones that are supposed to hold up on their own without a cupcake tin. I put them in the tin anyways. The paper cupcake liners won't be able to hold the dense cheesecake as well.

Now, take about a tablespoon and a half of the graham cracker mixture, and put it on the bottom of each tin. Using the back of a glass (I used the top of a PAM spray container), press down on the crumbs until they are compacted on the bottom of the cupcake liner.

Now, I had a million graham cracker crumbs left. So, I did the same thing with mini-cupcakes and my 8-inch springform pan. There was a lot of cheesecake that night.

Step Three: If your cream cheese has been sitting out for awhile, it's probably soft. If it's not, put it in the microwave in ten-second intervals until it's soft enough to whip.

Put it in the bowl of a stand mixer (this is before I had my Kitchenaid, so I just used a hand mixer) and mix it until it's fluffy and smooth.

Now, pour in the sugar and mix until incorporated.

Add the 3/4 cup of milk. Crack each egg into the mixture, mixing after each one is incorporated.

Now, mix in the sour cream, flour, and extract all together and mix until they're juuuust incorporated. Don't overmix!

Step Four: Pour your cheesecake batter into each of the cupcake liners, as well as into the mini cupcakes and the springform pan.

Step Five: You'll have to keep an eye on these when they're cooking. A 9-inch springform is supposed to cook for about an hour. You'll have really-mini cheesecakes, mini-cheesecakes, and an 8-inch cheesecake. This can be problematic. You'll just have to keep your eye on them. Take them out when they're browned on top.

Like this. You'll know when they're done. Now, here's the thing about the big cheesecake. If you were making it own its own, you would put it in the oven for 45 minutes, and not open the door for six hours. This prevents it from collapsing or cracking. When it collapses or cracks, it still tastes the same but doesn't look as nice.

For this recipe, you're opening the oven door a lot. So, don't sweat it if your big cheesecake doesn't look as pretty. We'll take care of that later.

Step Six: After all the cheesecakes are finished, put them in the fridge overnight.

Step Seven:

My cheesecakes were looking a little bit naked.

Now it's time to make your toppings. For Kate, I used strawberry sauce and chocolate sauce.

Strawberry sauce: Take one pint of frozen or fresh strawberries. Mix then with 1/3 cup of white sugar and 1/2 tsp of almond extract. Put them in a small saucepan and heat, stirring often, until the sauce has thickened (about 10-15 minutes).

Chocolate sauce: Melt 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips (about 8 oz.) and 1/2 tablespoon shortening over the stove or in the microwave.

Then, spoon your toppings onto the cheesecakes.

Divide it evenly between strawberry and chocolate. I dusted some with confectioner's sugar, but it didn't look that great so I stopped doing that.

Et voila! Don't they look scrumptious? I got the heart sprinkles from a craft store.

Ugh, so good. My friend told me that she (and her adorable daughter) really loved them. Yay! That's the best part of baking.

Garlic-Roasted Whipped Potatoes

2010-03-22T02:05:00.000-04:00

Mashed potatoes. Can you get a better comfort food than mashed potatoes? (Well, besides my world-famous pesto-shrimp-macaroni-and-cheese. But you'll have to wait for that.)

The answer is, yes. Garlic-roasted whipped potatoes. Whipped with cream so they're fluffy. Made with red potatoes, so you don't have to peel the buggers.

I almost cut off the tip of my finger peeling potatoes a few months ago. My thumb-knuckles are scarred with nicks from my potato peeler. Luckily, this recipe is perfect for the peeler-disabled like myself. Here, I'll prove it to you!

Alright, alright. I know I promised a dessert post. But I have a killer test tomorrow, and editing all those dessert pictures made my head spin.

So mashed 'taters it is. (Why am I speaking like a hillbilly? I have no idea).

Ingredients: 2 cloves of garlic. 10-15 red potatoes. 1/2 a stick of butter. 1 cup of heavy cream or half-and half. Pepper and kosher salt, to taste.

Step One: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Get your garlic cloves....

and cut their heads off!

Off with their heads!

(Speaking of, has anyone seen Alice in Wonderland yet? I didn't think it had a very good plot, but I was thrilled to see a female heroine for once. Yay for strong female role models in kids' movies! All too often, girls are either the love interest or the sidekick, like Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger.)

Lay out two pieces of foil. Put your beheaded garlic on it, and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap them up tightly into little balls, put them on a baking sheet, and roast for 45 minutes- 1 hour.

Step Two: Wash and dry your potatoes. Fill a pot with water and pour in 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. (To be honest, I never measure it, I just pour some into my hand and throw it in the pot). Bring this to a boil. Put your potatoes in and boil until soft, about 20-30 minutes. A good way to test is by, quite literally, sticking a fork in it. If it's soft enough for the fork to go through easily, they're done. Sorry that there aren't a lot of pictures of this part, it was kind of boring.

Step Three: If your garlic is done by this point, take it out of the foil and let it cool till you're able to handle it. When your potatoes are done, drain them into the bowl of a stand mixer. If you don't have a stand mixer, just put them in a big bowl. Mash them around with a masher or large fork, until they're broken up. Throw in the butter while they're still hot, and stir it around a little bit.

Step Four: When your garlic is cool enough to handle, it's time to put it into the potatoes. This is so easy. You can peel each clove off very easily, and just squeeze the garlic into the bowl. It slides out of the skin really easily. Also, the roasting process mellows the taste of the garlic, so the more, the better!

Step Five: Attach the paddle attachment to your stand mixer, or the regular beaters to your hand mixer. Begin it very slowly... if you do it too fast, your mixer will break. Continue mixing until the garlic, butter, and potatoes are well-combined. Slowly begin pouring in the cream, until the potatoes have reached the right consistency. You can speed it up a little bit here, in order to fully whip them. However, follow your manufacturer's instructions so the machine doesn't break.

Now, you can stop the mixer. Try a spoonful of the potatoes, to see what seasonings they need. Adjust to taste.

Step Six: Transfer this heaping pile of deliciousness to a serving dish. I made these on Christmas day, and the pork loin still wasn't finished. I didn't want the potatoes to get cold, so I put them in the oven with the meat.

The peaks ended up browning in the oven, which made it even more delicious. So good! You'll want seconds. And thirds. And.... well, you get the picture.

Eggplant Parmesan

2010-03-18T01:42:00.001-04:00

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I know that a lot of people like chicken parmesan, but I don't really like chicken. And fried chicken cutlets don't really do a body good, now do they?

Thankfully, eggplant parmesan is cheaper, easier, and healthier. Also, no touching dead animals. Where can you go wrong? Nowhere.

Ingredients: You'll need a big eggplant, to begin with. You can use two, but one gets you pretty far. You'll also need kosher salt, flour, egg, and bread crumbs.

Step One: Slice that baby up. You want thin slices, but not too thin.

You can see where I... sliced it too thin. Do as I say, not as I do!

Step Two: Now here is the most important part of eggplant parmesan. You have to weep or sweat the eggplant. I don't mean making it cry or having it sit in a sauna. No. Line some baking sheets with foil or parchment paper. Spread the slices out in a single layer. Sprinkle a little bit of kosher salt over the surface and a few minutes later...

You see all that water? The salt brings all the excess water in the eggplant to the surface. If you didn't weep the eggplant, it would end up getting soggy during the baking process. Not good! After 30 minutes of weeping on one side, pat the slices dry with a paper towel. Now, flip them over and weep on the other side. Water will just keep coming out.

Weep for 30 mins on the second side, then pat dry. Remember, the longer it weeps, the crispier the eggplant will be. Now here's the important thing: you'll need to rinse these off with water, and pat them dry again. If you don't they'll be too salty.

Step Three:

Put your oven on 350 degrees. Now, set up a little eggplant-dipping work station. Lay down a long sheet of paper towels. One on end, put your eggplant slices. Next, put down a bowl of flour. Next to that, place three whisked eggs in another bowl. Then, a bowl of bread crumbs, then, a cookie sheet.

Step Four:

Commence the dipping. First, coat each slice in flour.

Next, dip it in the egg and let the excess yolk drip off.

Next, coat on both sides with the bread crumbs. Coat it well! Don't leave any spots.

As you finish each slice, put them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for fifteen minutes, or until slightly crispy.

Step Five:

While they're baking, whip up a batch of my perfect pasta sauce. After the slices are done, let them cool for a few minutes.

Step Six: When the sauce is done and the eggplant is cool enough to handle, get out a baking dish. Place a thin layer of sauce on the bottom.

Place the eggplant in a layer on the bottom, and cover with pasta sauce. You can keep layering in this manner, depending on the size of your pan. Top it off with more pasta sauce, and sprinkle a nice amount of parmesan cheese on top, hence the name "Eggplant Parmesan."

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbling. Serve with whole-wheat pasta and fresh basil. Yum!!!!

How to Throw A Perfect Dinner Party

2010-03-18T01:16:00.002-04:00

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I love throwing dinner parties, but some people, especially younger people, seem to be intimidated by them. So, here's my guide to throwing a dinner party! It can be a more formal affair or a summer barbecue... anything you want, really. It's my dinner party and I'll cook what I want to!

Step One: Guest list. Invite your friends! Or, just have a small dinner with your family, but use the good china and make it fancy.

Step Two: Plan Your Menu
This is maybe my favorite part. I go a leeeeetle bit crazy and get really excited about all the fun stuff that I'm going to make. I then have to scale it down eventually or else I'd cook enough food to feed the entire block. Some things to remember when menu planning:

*Dietary Restrictions: I guarantee you that at least one of your guests will have some sort of dietary restriction. Whether she or he is vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, lactose-intolerant, kosher, has Crohn's disease, is allergic to gluten, is allergic to foods that start with the letter "p:" it's your job as the host to figure out who can or can't eat what. To me, this means tasty options for these guests. You can't just feed them salad and water and call it a night. It may actually expand your cooking repertoire... vegan cheesecake, anyone?

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*You also want to plan your menu according to cooking time, which kind of goes with step three below. DO cook food that you can begin preparing a few days in advance, and heat up right before the party. This includes soups, pasta dishes such as lasagna, etc. DON'T choose food, such as risotto, that requires a lot of attention right before it needs to be served. I made this mistake once and had to hover over the stove stirring it and couldn't mingle with my guests. Also, DON'T choose two food items that must be in the oven for lengthly periods of time and served immediately, especially if those items are an entree and dessert. You don't want your pavlova smelling like roasted rosemary chicken, do you?

*Choose foods that look good together. DO try and have the staples of protein, starch, and vegetable. DON'T serve foods that are all the same color, such as chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and cauliflower. Your plates will look ugly, and I'm allllll about presentation.

*If your guests offer to bring food, accept! But here's a handy dandy tip: tell them what to bring. Don't be a psycho and act like a demanding jerk, but you can suggest a type of food. I've noticed that if you say, "Just bring whatever!" you'll end up getting ten desserts. When a friend asks, say, "Oh, could you bring an appetizer/side dish/bottle of wine?" That way, you can keep track of how much food is coming in. It's also perfectly acceptable to request well-loved items from your friends... like my friend Vi's stuffed mushrooms, my friend Danielle's homemade matzo-ball soup, or my friend Brittany's amazing gingerbread mushroom cookies.

Step Three: Plan Like An Army General

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When you're throwing a party, you better get ready to make lists! Luckily, I like lists so this task is good for me.
*Grocery List: break it down by section: produce, meat, dairy, etc. Seriously. If you just write down one long list of things, you'll forget something and have to frantically run out to the store to get it last-minute.
*Plan the day before/day of. No, really. You might think I'm being crazy but you'll be thankful. This way, you know that when the cheesecake is in the oven, you can chop the vegetables for the stuffing and boil the potatoes. Then, you take the cheesecake out, put the [insert food] here in, and make the punch, etc. If you do it this way, you never leave anything out.

Step Four: Hire a Sous-Chef
Well, not hire. But find one. If you have a significant other, he or she is an ideal candidate. Well, this year, Loving Boyfriend almost cut his frigging finger off five minutes before my guests arrived. But he's usually pretty good. If you don't have a sig. other or he or she is unavailable or bleeding profusely from an unfortunate knife incident, you could use a parent or sibling. Or, throw the party with a friend! You can be co-chefs. You're going to need someone to help you plate the food and make sure nothing is burning.

Step Five: Sur Le Table
For my Christmas dinner party, I always set the table a few days before. Well, it's kind of fun for me. Because I'm weird. But the last thing on earth you want to do thirty minutes before your guests arrive and you're still in your pajamas and the food is half-done is get out the freaking Christmas china and arrange place settings. Arranging the table a few days ahead of time is advised for more formal parties.

*Clean your house at least a day or two before. Make sure your bathrooms are well-stocked and that you have enough hangers in your coat closet. Make sure there are no wire hangers though!

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Just kidding. You can use wire hangers, but the ghost of Jane Crawford might haunt you that night. Mommy Dearest reference? Anyone?

*Place settings are fun! Write out your own, and have fun arranging your guests. Obviously, don't put people that don't like each other near each other (not that this is a problem with my friends... at least I hope not). Want to see a fun place setting I made last summer?

I filled them with dirt and flowers, and gave them to my guests. The pots cost about a dollar each, and craft stores sell special markers to write on them with. So cute!

Step Six: Atmosphere, Baby
*When your guests step into your house, you want it to smell and look nice. Hopefully, it will smell like delicious food, because of your cooking!
*Music is essential, but ipods can be annoying if you don't have a good playlist set up. I usually turn on one of the music channels provided by my cable service, and turn the volume up. I've found that the jazz ones are best for parties, and provide nice background music.
*If it's winter, light a fire! My dad always gets really excited to light the fire before my winter parties, for some reason. I then banish my family from the house for the night so they don't embarrass me.

Step Seven: EAT.
This year, I made so much food that no one could even stomach the duck or any dessert because they were about to explode. At a fundraiser last summer, I made about seven different kinds of desserts and everyone who attended was on a diet and didn't eat any.
I always make too much food! Try not to let this happen.

Step Eight: Clean Up, the Worst Part.
After the evening has ended and everyone has waddled out after eating enough for a family of four, you have to clean everything up. UGH. WORST. I usually wait till the next day because I'm so tired and my feet hurt so much. (Side note: does anyone else have horrible lower-leg and heel-of-foot pain after cooking all day, or am I just an old lady?) One time, I was at a dinner party and the hostess hired a cleaning lady to come help clean up. This may be a good idea if you're not a poor college student like myself.

Step Nine: Start Planning for the Next One!
If you were a guest at the dinner party, you could send the hostess a thank-you note. I'm a thank-you note aficionado, and I practically send them to everyone. So, you don't have to, but you can.
If you like entertaining, and you find a good recipe, save it! I have an enormous bookmarked list of really good recipes that I always forget to use.

Most importantly, don't freak out! Okay, I almost freaked out once. I was in the middle of making whipped potatoes with my hand mixer (this was B.K: Before Kitchenaid) and the $%#@& mixer fell on the floor and BROKE. My potatoes were lumpy. My guests would arrive in thirty minutes. I was still wearing sweatpants. My dad and boyfriend were at work and I had no one to help me. I had to run out and buy a new handmixer. I almost had a nervous breakdown.

But other than crazy experiences like that, dinner parties should be fun! Enjoy yourself, and your guests will relax too.

Roasted Duck with Apple-Cornbread Stuffing

2010-02-21T16:47:00.002-05:00

Even though I'm not much of a meat-eater, I love duck. It's definitely on my top ten list of favorite food.

No, not that type of duck.

For my Holiday Dinner Party this year, I wanted to make a fantastic main course, but didn't want to make something boring. Baked ziti, lasagna... ugh.. Booooooring. I also didn't want to make turkey, because it seemed too Thanksgivingy.

So I decided upon duck. I was a little nervous, because it was my first time cooking it, but I found a good recipe and marched down to the butcher's shop.

I really wasn't sure how to cook it, or even what size ducks came in. I got a five-pound one, which according to the butcher was on the larger side. It was fairly expensive and according to the recipes that I looked at, is only supposed to feed four to six people.
I had ten at my party.
Whatevs.
Don't think my guests starved, though: in fact, by the time the duck was ready, everyone was so stuffed that they could barely eat it.

This recipe is an amalgamation of a number of different recipes I found, so there's no "original recipe."

Stuffing

Step One: Get your ingredients. Five stalks celery, one onion, 2 Tbs butter, three granny-smith apples. Also, take cornbread and tear it into crumbs. I just baked a really quick one, but you could buy one from the grocery store's bakery if they have any. Also, some of the boxed recipes just require an egg and some milk and are really easy to make.

Step Two: Chop the celery and onions.

Next, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Throw in the celery and onions and saute until soft.

Step Three: While the celery and onions are sauteing, peel, core, and chop the apple into medium-sized chunks. Throw the cornbread crumbs into a large bowl with the apples.

Step Four: Mix in the celery and onions. If it's too dry, mix in some chicken stock or melted butter, but you don't want it to be too soggy, especially if it'll be sitting overnight.

Now, I was making tons of food for my party, so I did this the night before. I just wrapped it in cellophane and put it in the fridge.

Duck

Step One: Ahhh, the elusive duck. Well, the first step would be to get it from a butcher.

Then, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a large roasting pan with foil.

Cut your duck out if its wrapping and put it in the (clean) sink. Now, here comes the gross part.

Step Two: Stick your hand in and take out the innards. Yeah, yeah, I know that it's revolting but it has to be done. There'll be a bag of... organs and a neck. Maybe it's the feminist in me, but I hate when women are like, "EWWW I CAN'T TOUCH RAW MEAT GET MY BOYFRIEND TO DO IT." Stop whining and take out the goddamned gizzards.

I do have to admit, touching the ribs was nasty. Now, rinse out your duck in cold water, including the inside, until the water coming out runs clear. Prick or score the duck's skin with a sharp knife. Plop that sucker in the roasting pan.

Step Two: Chop up about ten sage leaves, and put them in a bowl with a bunch of salt and pepper and a few minced cloves of garlic.

Now, rub this concoction all over your duck.

Now, this was a weird part of the process. As I was rubbing the herbs into my duck, especially at this part, I felt like I was rubbing its tummy. It was more than a little unsettling.

Step Three: Take your aforementioned stuffing, and using a long spoon, stuff it into the duck. There will be a lot of stuffing leftover... just keep stuffing it in.

Now, if you really feel like clogging your arteries, brush some melted butter all over that baby. However, ducks are really fatty to begin with, so if you're trying to maintain some semblance of "health," forego the butter. But it does help make the skin really crispy.

Step Four: Put it in the oven. The cooking times of the various recipes varied from an hour to two hours. I had some issues with the duck cooking... it seemed like it was in there for three hours. I think it might have been my oven. But the bottom line is, cook the duck until its thickest part is 180 degrees on a meat thermometer. Don't want to poison your guests!

While it's cooking, take the pan drippings and baste it a few times an hour. It'll smell soooooo good.

When it's finally cooked, scoop out the stuffing and put it into a serving platter.

Carving the duck was the second hardest part, because Loving Boyfriend and I have never carved poultry before. We kind of hacked away at it until we got most of the meat off... I felt like the Demon Barber of Fleet Street or something.

This would have been helpful.

So, Bon Appetit, and happy duck gizzarding/rubbing/basting/carving!

Sorry, buddy.

Doggie Biscuits

2010-02-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

Here at Majestic Domestic, I'm an equal opportunity cook. Meaning, I have no qualms about making treats for our animal companions.

More specifically to this post, dogs. I'm more of a cat person myself, but all my family members have adorable doggies and I wanted to make them Christmas presents.

Onto the recipe!

Original recipe from here.

Step One: Gather your ingredients. You need: 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1/4 cup yeast (about 2-3 packets), 1 tsp. salt, 1 1/2 Tbs. vegetable oil, 1/2 cup chicken broth plus an additional 1/4 cup. You'll also need a dog-bone shaped cookie cutter.

NOTE: the original recipe called for a few cloves of garlic when I first checked it out back in November, but it's no longer on there. Some of the commenters said that garlic is toxic to dogs, and some said it wasn't, but I left it out of the recipe just to be safe.

Step Two: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Step Three: Put the vegetable oil in a large bowl. Put in 1/3 of the dry mixture, 1/3 of the chicken stock, etc. until all of it is in the large bowl. Mix together well. (Note: only use the 1/2 cup of stock here. We're using the rest later).

Mixing in the ingredients. The stock is to the right. Make sure to mix well after each addition.

Step Four: Roll out a sheet of parchment paper and lightly flour it. Roll the dough out and cut into dog-bone shapes with the cookie cutter.

Place the cookies on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. (I had to use aluminum foil because I ran out of parchment paper. If you do it this way, grease the aluminum foil with cooking spray first.

Step Six: Here's where I had issues with Martha Stewart's recipe. It said to bake for 10 minutes, then brush with stock, then bake ten minutes more, then let dry for an hour in the oven. When I went to check on them after ten minutes, they were almost overcooked. So, I took them out, brushed them with the 1/4 cup stock, and let them dry out on the counter.

I put them in a tin that I got at the craft store and lined with wax paper. I had to try them out, though. Not on myself, although they are edible for humans if you so desire. No, I wanted to try them out on my dog, Honey. She was my target demographic, after all.

As you can see, she ate it so fast I couldn't even get a picture. This is her licking the crumbs off the carpet.

I was still a little concerned that they weren't tasty, though. Honey is a beast. She eats everything: squirrels, neighborhood cats (I'm serious... you should see the Missing Cat posters in my neighborhood), small children, animal, vegetable, and mineral. One time she took an entire chicken carcass out of the garbage and ate it when no one was home. We were sure that she was going to die, but she didn't even get a tummy ache. I think she's really a wolf or bear or something.

Anyway, my cousins said that their dogs LOVED the cookies. Which made me happy.

Here's how I packaged them:

Just white paper, markers, horribly-drawn dog pictures (I never said I was an artist), and stickers from the craft store.

Bon Appetit, petite chiennes!

Picture Frames

2010-02-14T18:46:00.001-05:00

This Christmas, I was trying not to spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone, because my average paycheck is about $30 a week. I decided to make most of them, because #1 I like making them, #2 it was a lot more personal, and #3, because I am broke as a joke. My cousin Christine has the two cutest daughters ever, and I definitely wanted to get them a little something for the holiday.

The only problem was I didn't know what to get for the youngest, who is 8. I really wasn't sure what to get an eight year old. I remember when I was that age, and people would get me stupid stuff and I hated being treated like a baby. Luckily, I had a cute picture of the three of us, and I decided to make her a picture frame and put the picture inside it.

You only need a few supplies, it's not terribly expensive, you don't need a whole lot of artistic talent, and there are endless creative possibilities. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Here's what you need:

Wooden frame, acrylic paint, some paintbrushes, and a few little decorations.

I decided on the colors pink, green, and purple. I was a little nervous that my second cousin (or is it cousin-once-removed?) wouldn't like them, but I hoped that she would.

Step One: Think of how you want to paint it. I decided to do most of the frame in pink, so I started with that color. Get everything: the outside edges and the inside ones. You'll obviously want to disassemble the frame first, and to put a paper towel underneath the frame. Once the first layer is dry, do another coat of paint.

Step Two: Continue with the next color.

It's a good idea to wait until the first layer is dry. Put a piece of masking tape over the part that you've already painted, so the colors don't bleed together and so you get clean lines. Do the same as before: wait for the first coat to dry, do a second coat, and wait for that to dry before you go onto the last color.

Step Three: Do the same with your last color.

I found the little butterflies/dragonflies at the craft store and they matched my colors, so I decided to get them. I didn't end up putting them there right away, though. The frame looked a little too boring for me at this point.

Step Four: I wanted to add a little something.... more. I decided to paint some stripes on the side of the frame. You'll need masking tape or painter's tape for this. I only had scotch tape, which sucked. The paint bled under the tape and I had to redo a lot of the lines by hand with a tiny brush, so please please use painter's tape and save yourself the headache.

Oh, I also wrote my cousin's (second cousin? Cousin-once-removed?) name on the bottom with green Sharpie.
Put the tape (not scotch tape!) On the frame in the pattern of the stripes you want. I started with vertical stripes, then waited for them to dry and made horizontal stripes. It ended up looking kind of plaid, and I think it made the frame look a lot better.

Then, when all the paint was dry, I crazy-glued (or you can use wood glue) the little pieces to the frame. I put the frame back together with the picture inside, and sent it off to my cousin (second cousin?) as part of her Christmas present. Apparently, she really liked it, so it made me happy.

And that's all! Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

Valentine's Day Treats!

2010-02-10T19:09:00.001-05:00

Valentine's Day is this weekend! I know it's a commercialized Hallmark holiday, yadda, yadda, yadda. I also know that some people hate it, but bear with me.

I'm also sitting inside on a snow day and missing Loving Boyfriend. Believe me, having a long-distance relationship for 2 1/2 out of 3 years is sooooo much fun. Not.

You don't know how long it took me to find a non-weird Valentine's Day image.

On the docket for today: Eclairs!

But before we jump into the eclairs, let me show you a really beautiful Valentine's Day recipe for more experienced cooks:

It' s a candy-box cake filled with truffles! Even better than a regular candy box.

The original recipe and step-by-step instructions are here.

It's a single red-velvet cake baked in a heart-shaped pan. You trace the shape of the pan on parchment paper, two times. On the first parchment paper heart, you add an extra inch all the way around the outline. Tint and roll out fondant to fit each of the hearts, plus an extra-long strip the height of the cake plus 1/2 inch. Spread bigger heart with a thin layer of icing, excluding the extra inch. Plop down cake, spread with more icing all the way around: surround sides with the strip of fondant and put the extra heart on top. Put in homemade truffles, and you're done!

I used this pan, which sucked. I had to throw it out after one use. I washed it on the light cycle in warm water in the dishwasher after I made the cake, and it came out destroyed. This has never happened to one of my cake pans before, so I think it was just a low-quality pan and I'd recommend getting another brand.

Now, onto the eclairs!

They were actually one of the first desserts I made when I started cooking. They're pretty easy, but require some technique.

According to my new favorite baking book,

the base of making eclairs is making choux pastry. The batter is called pate a choux and the ingredients are lying around your kitchen right now.

You need three sets of ingredients here: one for the choux, one for the creme patisserie or pasty cream, and one for the chocolate ganache.

Pastry Cream

Step One: Get your stuff. 1 1/2 cups whole milk, 1 vanilla bean or a tsp. of vanilla extract, 4 large egg yolks (not the whole egg!), 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 Tsp. cornstarch, and 2 Tbs. butter.

Step Two: Warm the milk in a saucepan until little bubbles start to form. Remove from the stovetop, and take out the vanilla bean pod if you used it.

Step Three: Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a medium-sized bowl. It will be thick, because of the egg yolks and the cornstarch.

Step Four: Take your warm milk (it should have been cooling for about five minutes by now) and slowly pour it into the egg mixture, whisking the whole time. Pour it back into the saucepan and put the heat on medium-low.

Step Five: Cook, constantly whisking it. Wait for it to boil. You may have to turn the heat up. You have to stand by the stove, because when it starts boiling it will thicken really fast. Keep whisking it, making sure that it doesn't burn on the bottom.

You can see it boiling. You'll know when it's thick enough... it should be the consistency of pudding. Pastry cream is essentially just vanilla pudding.

Step Six: Put it in a bowl, and for God's sake, don't forget to stir in the butter! I did. And then a half hour later I wondered why butter was sitting out on the counter.

Step Seven: Take a sheet of plastic wrap. Put it loosely on top of the bowl of pastry cream, and press it all the way down until it's touching the top. This prevents a "skin" from forming on the pastry cream, which is as disgusting as it sounds. Put the bowl in the fridge for at least two hours. (Or, if you're impatient like me, put it in the freezer until it's cool).

Choux Pastry:

Step One: Gather 1/2 cup of whole milk {I used skim. Whatevs.}, 1/2 cup of water, 6 Tbs butter cut into small pieces, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 cup flour, and 4 large eggs.

Step Two: Get a saucepan. Put the heat on medium-high. Throw in the milk, water, butter, and salt and stir it around.

Step Three: When the butter has melted, take the pan off the stove. Dump in all the flour, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Vigorously, I said!

Step Four: Move the pan back to the heat. Continue stirring, vigorously, until the mixture begins leaving the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Take it off from the heat and cool it down.

Leaving the sides of the pan....

Forming a ball.

Step Five: Whisk an egg in a small bowl. Pour it into the batter and beat until fully incorporated. Do the same thing with the three remaining eggs. Let the batter cool for ten minutes.

After all the eggs have been added.

Step Six: Now. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe strips of the batter, about five inches long and an inch or two thick. If you want, pipe a few round balls as well. These get cut in half, filled with ice cream, drizzled with ganache, and are called profiteroles. You can also fill them with pastry cream and make cream puffs.

Step Seven: Preheat the oven to 425. Bake the eclairs for fifteen minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake until golden brown, anywhere from 5-20 minutes depending on the size.

Step Eight: Remove from the oven when they're done and prick one end with a sharp knife. Put back in the oven and leave the door open, letting them dry out for about fifteen minutes. Let them cool on wire racks.

Ganache:

Step One: You need 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, 2 Tbs. butter, and 1/2 cup of heavy cream.

Step Two: Finely chop the chocolate. Put it and the butter in a glass bowl. Heat the cream until it just starts to boil, then pour it into the chocolate and butter and stir until everything has melted and is well-combined. Let cool for a few minutes.

Assembly:

Step One: Take your pastry cream out of the fridge. Line up your eclairs, your pastry cream, and your ganache. Get a helper. My uncle helped me with this. He's my new sous chef/photographer.

His first order of business was taking a picture of the dog and my foot.

Step Two: With a sharp, serrated knife, cut your eclairs in half. My eclairs always seem to sink a little bit, which I'm trying to fix. Fit a pastry bag with a star tip, and fill it up with pastry cream. Pipe the cream on the bottom half of each eclair.

Step Three: While you're doing that, have your helper dip the top of each eclair in the ganache. Or, he/she could put the top of each eclair on a cooling rack and spoon the ganache over it... just make sure there's a paper towel underneath.

When you're finished with this, affix the eclair tops to the eclair bottoms. For the cream puffs, you need a long, thin decorating tip (I cannot find it online for the life of me). Put it in a pastry bag and fill with pastry cream, then stick it into the side of each cream puff and gently squeeze until a little comes out of the top. Drizzle with chocolate.

Mmmm.... the way eclairs should be. Fresh, pretty, and glistening with ganache. Serve them to your loved one with a handmade card and a kiss.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Champagne Cupcakes

2010-02-03T02:18:00.001-05:00

5....4....3....2.....1.........

CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES!

I made these delicious confections for a New Year's Eve party. I was really sick, and was in no position to drink anything but hot tea.... total bummer on New Year's Eve. But, I was determined to go to my friend's party. Since I wasn't engaging in the usual NYE activities, I decided to bring alcohol in another form.

CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES!

I got the idea that morning, when reading the newspaper. I saw that some bakery in New York City was selling champagne cupcakes for the holiday, and I was inspired.

Original recipe from here, but modified by me.

Step One: Get your ingredients together. 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 2 1/2 cups cake flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3/4 cup champagne, 6 large egg whites, at room temperature, 2 pints of washed strawberries

Here's what cake flour looks like:

Cake flour makes lighter cakes than regular all-purpose flour. NEVER make a cake with whole wheat flour, as it will be dense and you could probably break someone's foot if you dropped it. When I saw that the original recipe used egg whites, I knew that I wanted a lighter cake texture, so I opted for the cake flour.

NOTE: I used self-rising cake flour which means that it already has baking powder and salt in it. So, don't add any more rising ingredients!

Step Two: Preheat your oven to 350, and line some cupcake tins with liners. I used the silver aluminum ones because it was New Year's Eve and I was feeling sparkly.

Step Three: Cream the softened butter and sugar with a stand mixer or a hand mixer for five minutes. Creaming is essential in baking. It helps make the texture of your cake smooth and light. About four minutes in, add the vanilla extract.

Step Four: Sift the cake flour onto a sheet of wax paper.

Step Five: Add one cup of the flour to the creamed butter/sugar/vanilla. Mix just until incorporated. Add 1/4 cup of champagne, and do the same. Continue until you have used up the flour and the 3/4 cup of champagne.

Here's the first half of your batter.

Step Six: Hardest part of the recipe coming up. If you used a stand mixer, clean your bowl THOROUGHLY. Make sure that there's not a speck of soap, food, or anything. Then, dry it just as thoroughly. If you didn't use a stand mixer, just get a seperate bowl, but wash & dry it really well just to be safe.

It's egg white time.

Step Seven: You may remember my ultimate foe, the whipped egg white. Well, since I got my stand mixer for Christmas, egg whites better watch their back. Because now, I'm ready.

Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. How does one do this? Well, if you're smart, you'll buy an egg separator. But, if you're an idiot like me who keeps forgetting to buy one every time you're at the store, you'll have to do it by hand.

Get two small bowls. Crack an egg in half... really in half. You want two good-sized pieces of shell.

When you do this, a lot of the white will just fall off into the bowl.

Most Important Thing Ever: Do not let the yolk fall into the bowl. AT ALL. Any yolk. Not even that fetus-looking white thing. If any of it does, get it out ASAP.

Now, you have two options. You can take the other half of the egg shell, and jockey the yolk and white-fetus-thing around between the two shell halves until all the whites are gone. This usually causes some yolk to fall into the bowl, which is fine for stuff like omelette-making. But when you're trying to whip egg whites into meringue, any speck of yolk can ruin the texture and subsequently ruin your recipe.

So, I just plop the yolk in my hands and let the whites run off between my fingers. It's really, really disgusting. But, I saw some pastry chef do it on a Food Network Challenge. And, it really works. (This chef then moved onto whipping egg whites into meringue WITH JUST A WIRE WHIP AND SHEER UPPER ARM STRENGTH. A feat I'll never accomplish.)

Perfect bowl of egg whites. Let them reach room temperature. Put the yolks in the other bowl and use them for creme brulee.

Step Eight: If you have a stand mixer, thank your lucky stars. If not, just get a hand mixer with the whisk attachment. Put the egg whites in the bowl.

Whip on high speed until soft peaks form. Then, add 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar, and whip until stiff peaks form. What does this mean? You can make a high peak of egg white with a spoon, and it will either not wilt or wilt very little. Or, hold the bowl upside down. If they stay put, you're set. Don't beat them too much, though!

Step Nine: Put half the egg whites on top of the first half of the batter.

Fold it by using a rubber spatula. Cut a line with the spatula through the middle, and flip half the mixture together. Do with the other half. Then, add the rest of the egg whites and continue folding until almost fully blended. Don't handle it too much or your egg whites will deflate. Egg whites get like this because there's so much air in between the molecules, so if you beat that air away, they'll deflate. Yay! Science!

It's okay if there are some streaks.

Step Ten: Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way with batter. Just plop it in there, don't press down on it. Just smooth it a liiiiittttlllle bit.

Bake for twenty minutes, or until you press on them and they spring back.

Even though they're done, they might not be as golden-brown as regular cupcakes. That's because of the egg whites. The touch-test is the best way to determine if these are finished. IF you want them to cool quicker, wait about three minutes, then flip them on their sides. It helps air circulate under them. I learned this from Martha Stewart, who's never wrong.

Step Eleven: After about five more minutes of cooling (they should still be pretty hot), pour 1/2 cup of champagne into a small bowl. Take a pastry brush and brush two to three layers of champagne over each cupcake.

Step Twelve: Time to make the icing! Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups butter (2 1/4 sticks) at room temperature, 2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, and about 1/4 cup of champagne. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Add champagne, slowly, until desired consistency is reached. Oh no! Too thin? Add more sugar. Too thick? More champagne.

Step Thirteen: Take a 12-inch pastry bag, available at every craft store ever, and a big star tip. (I forget the number).

Put the tip in the bag. Cut the bag until the front of the tip fits through the opening. At the opposite end of the bag, make a cuff with the tip. Using a spatula, add about a cup and a half of icing.

Push the icing down to the front of the bag. Undo the cuff, twist the end of the bag. Holding the bag with both hands, guiding with your dominant hand, make a circle on the perimeter of the cupcake, then swirl it in to the center and finish. Use your wrist, not your whole arm.

Plop a strawberry on top, because strawberries and champagne are best friends.

Ignore the ones on the left. I experimented with a different tip, and they didn't turn out as good.

Here are some close-ups:

Everyone at the NYE party loved them, which made my poor sick self feel better. It was a great party (Thanks Vi!) and I wish that I could have stayed longer. Alas, there's always next year!

P.S. Sorry if the end of this post seems rushed. It's really late and I just realized that I have to be up for my internship in five hours. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments.

Almond-Encrusted Chicken with Bechamel Sauce

2010-02-03T01:24:00.000-05:00

Sound delicious? And fancy? And impossibly difficult to make? Well, it is the first two, but not the third.

I got the almond-encrusted chicken recipe one time when I was in the eye-doctor's office. (Have I mentioned that I still go to a pediatric eye doctor instead of a real, adult one? Well, the doctor who does my contacts is an adult doctor, but his office is in a pediatric opthamologist's building. So, every time I got to get my eyes checked I have to sit with four-year-olds and watch Dora the Explorer.)

Anyways, one time I was in the pediatric eye doctor's office for a checkup. When you have terrible eyesight like me, you have to get one of these once or twice a year, so the Dr. can say, "Oh you're even blinder than last year! Let's up the prescription!" I had to get my eyes dilated, and wait for thirty minutes. Before my eyes started getting really bad from the dilation chemicals, I was reading a magazine. Because the only magazines in a pediatric eye doctor's office are "Highlights" and "Parenting," I chose the latter. I found this amazing recipe for almond-encrusted chicken in it, but couldn't fully read it because of my freakishly dilated pupils, so I clandestinely ripped the page out and took it home with me.

And a classic Majestic Domestic dish was born.

I tucked the page into a cookbook, and every so often, it falls out of the cookbook and I'm inspired, yet again, to make it.

For the Chicken
Step One: As usual, compile your ingredients. You'll need:
Two pounds of chicken breasts; 1 and 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs (right next to the regular ones in the supermarket); 1 1/2 cup of almonds; a teaspoon each of salt and pepper; 1 tablespoon of crushed rosemary; two or three eggs, and 1/2 a cup milk

Step Two: Set your oven to 400 degrees. Wash, dry, cut the fat off your chicken.

Step Three: Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spread your almonds on it in a single layer, like so.

Pop them in the oven for about five minutes. You just want them to be toasted. When they're cool enough to handle, put them in a nut grinder or food processor. (I got a nut grinder for Christmas, so I was really excited to use it. JUDGE ME).

If you don't have either of those tools, use a blender, or put them in a ziploc bag and smash them with a hammer. I'm serious. It works.

If you do have a nut grinder/food processor, grind or process them till fine, but not too fine.

Step Four: Measure the panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and rosemary into a medium-sized bowl.

Next, add the almonds.

Combine them together with a spoon. Make sure they're well-mixed: you don't want one piece of chicken with all almond and another one with all salt.

I bet your chicken is getting lonely by this point. Time to bread it. Easiest thing ever? I think so.

Step Five: Cover your work surface with a paper towel. Make an assembly line: First, the chicken, then the eggs, broken up and mixed into a medium-sized bowl with the milk, then the bread crumbs, then a plate/tray/cookie sheet to rest the chicken on.

Dip the chicken in the egg, raising it over the egg mixture for a few seconds to let the excess drip off. Then, plop it in the bread crumb mixture, fully coating each side. Then, place it on your tray.

Loving Boyfriend was very helpful with this recipe: he ground the nuts and handled the slimy raw chicken while I got to make the sauce, which required no handling of dead animals.

For the Bechamel Sauce:

Step One: Break out the Julia. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Now, I know that it's annoying that every food blogger is going Julia-Child-crazy since the movie came out. (Which, I have to admit, I loved the Julia part, but hated the annoying Julie part). But, my friends, I swear that I was using her cookbooks before the movie came out, and it's not just a passing fad. She really is the best.

Step One: Ingredients. You need one large saucepan and one smaller one. You'll need: four tablespoons butter, six tablespoons flour, 1/2 cup of milk, salt and pepper to taste, and a few cups of chicken stock.

Step Two: Put the butter (or as Julia would say it, buUUuUuuUtTtTeeR) over medium-low heat until it melts.

Make sure you watch it, because you don't want to take the advice of Usher and "Let It Burn." (I'm so sorry for that. That song came on at the gym today and I couldn't help but be transported back to awkward slow-dances at the ninth grade prom, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. "It's been fifty-eleven days, umpteen hours, and I'ma be burnin' till you retuuuuuuurn").

Step Three: Once the butter has melted, add the flour, and stir for a few minutes until it has thickened and turned a buttery yellow.

Step Four: Pat yourself on the back! You've just made an essential ingredient in every cook's repertoire, that can be used for fifty-leven, umpteen recipes. It's called a roux, and it's the base of almost every white sauce you'll ever make.

Step Five: In the classic Bechamel sauce, one would just add two cups of milk. But, since this recipe was for chicken, I wanted to incorporate that flavor into the sauce. Remove your roux from the heat. Stir in the milk, and then the chicken broth. Immediately begin vigorously mixing the sauce with a wire whip, until the roux and the liquids have completely absorbed. Put it back on the heat, and simmer, stirring continuously until it is the consistency that you like. Season with salt and pepper.

Step Six: Take a large, deep casserole dish, and spread some sauce on the bottom.

Then, put a layer of the prepared chicken on top. Add more sauce, and then more chicken, until there is no chicken left.

Then, top it off with more sauce. Pour some on the sides, too. If you want to serve some pasta with sauce topped on it with the dish, reserve some sauce for this purpose.

Step Seven: Bake, covered, for forty-five minutes to an hour, or until the chicken is cooked through.

At this point, your kitchen will smell like butter, almonds, and rosemary, or in a word, delicious.

With this dish, I just served plain noodles with more Bechamel sauce. If you know anything about me or my family, you know that we eat late. Like, 10:00 or 11:00 at night late. So, by this time, I was tired and just boiled some penne and topped it off with Bechamel.

Thanks, pediatric opthamologist's office! And Julia Child! And Loving Boyfriend! And Usher!

Make Your Own Invitations!

2010-01-22T01:04:00.000-05:00

My, what a week. I apologize for not posting more in the past week. Besides nonstop studying, I've been trying to craft and cook as much as possible before I go back to school. Plus, I almost cut the tip of my finger off with a potato peeler, my beloved Martha Coakley lost the Senate race to a male model, and I just saw "The Lovely Bones" and cried nonstop throughout the entire two-hour movie.

I know, I know. Excuses are the bricks that build the house of failure.

Where was I again? Oh, making invitations! One of my favorite crafts, I must admit. So, every year, my dad throws a big after-the-holidays party at the local country club for his employees, friends, and family members. This year, I told him that I wanted to make the invites. (Little did I know that I would have to do it during finals week...)

So, where to begin? Well, first you need to get some materials. I went to The Paper Source, my favorite stationary store EVER. Unfortunately, there are none in my home state (Come on, Paper Source! Get on it!), but there's one right near my school. The Paper Source (any craft store, really) is like my version of crack-cocaine. I get overwhelmed by the options and when I went to get supplies for this particular project, spent five minutes staring at the shelf of embossing powder alone. This is not normal.

Look at all the custom paper........ *drool*

Anyways, there was a really helpful employee there (Thanks, lady with the glasses!) who helped me sort through my ideas and pick a great design. Making your own invites is a lot of work, but may even end up being less expensive than buying them pre-made. I made one hundred eighty invitations for about $220 in supplies, plus the cost of postage. (To be fair, I asked my dad for a budget and he didn't give me one, so he can't blame me when my credit card statement comes in).

Click "read more" to see what's in the bag!

The first step, especially in a smorgasbord like The Paper Source, is to pick your color. The party that we were having is a winter party. It's after all the holidays, because my dad has always figured that everyone already has a zillion parties to go to in December. He decided to hold his party in the middle of January, when the trees have been taken down and the holiday cheer has worn off... it's kind of a "Lose the Winter Blues" party. So I knew that I wanted to do something with blue. I decided to get cardstock in light blue for the invites and darker blue for the envelopes, with some extra white and silver to make snowflakes cutouts with.

What am I talking about? I'll show you.

Here's the paper. Clockwise from top left: RSVP cards &envelopes, invites & envelopes, paper to print out the actual writing on, cardstock for the snowflakes.

BIG TIP #1: If you're going to print the information for the party directly on the cardstock, you'll need a top-feeding printer. I have the type that feeds from the bottom and flips the paper around, which couldn't bend the cardstock. So if you have a printer like mine, you will need to print the info on separate paper and paste it on. I picked ivory.

Here's the fun(ner) part:

The rest of my supplies! Clockwise from top: opaque stamp pad: This is different from the stamp pad that you emboss with. This one is flat, as opposed to embossed. (What does "embossed" mean? I'm getting there). Colorbox stamp pads: When you stamp these on paper, you sprinkle embossing powder or embossing glitter on them. Then, you use the embossing heat tool to heat up the powder, which makes the stamp rise and have texture. Next to the stamps are one container of clear embossing powder and one of clear embossing glitter. They come in a million different colors. Next are my three stamps and a few silver gel pens to write out the envelopes with. The last few items are paper punches: they're really cool. You... well... punch paper with them. I'll show you how to use them later. Then there's the glitter glue and rhinestones for the middle of some of the snowflake paper punches.

Okay, so now you have your supplies, and hopefully, and idea for your invitation.

The first step that I did was to begin by drafting the text for the invitations. The official name of the party is "Friends of Fred," so I included a nice friendship quote. You also obviously want to include the date, time, and location. I also added some more stuff, as you'll see below.

Next step: embossing the snowflake stamps. Embossing is easy, but requires some technique.

(Critical information blocked out in case there are creepers reading this).

To emboss: start by stamping the stamp evenly on the stamp pad (could I say "stamp" any more times if I tried)? Then, stamp it on the paper. THEN, before stamping it again on the paper, make sure to re-ink it. When you are done stamping, sprinkle enough glitter on the stamped part to fully cover it. Then, put all the extra powder back in the container. For these snowflakes, I used the white stamp and the white glitter. (I was covered in glitter for DAYS. I found it in my books, my hair, my bed, my socks. EVERYWHERE).

Take an old makeup brush and gently brush off the excess powder. If you have leftover powder smudged around the stamp, it will stick when the embossing tool is blown on it, so here it really pays to be anal-retentive.

Then, take your embossing heat tool. Really, it's just like a blow-dryer. If you don't want to spend $29.99 on what is essentially a skinny blow-dryer, you could probably use the one for your hair. The only difference is that the embossing tool keeps the hot air more focused.
Anyway, take your embosser and blow it on the glitter.

This is where the technique comes in. Hold the tool a few inches away from the paper, and blow the air over the whole stamp. The embossing glitter is a lot more forgiving than the powder. With the glitter, you will see the glitter kind of sparkle and change color very rapidly. When the whole thing has changed color, you'll know it's done. It's hard to explain, but you'll see once you try it. The whole thing takes just a few seconds.
With the embossing powder, you have to be a lot more careful. If it gets too hot, it kind of "melts" and smudges the stamp.

Here's my stack of finished ones. (The one you saw above was a practice invite. I decided to only stamp & emboss two on each invitation). This process took a REALLY long time... like four hours. If you're doing it for a wedding or something, have your bridesmaids get in an assembly line and have one person stamp, one brush, and the last person emboss. If I were at home, I definitely would have forced a few family members to help me.

After I embossed, I stamped these "handmade by" stamps on the back, and signed my name. (I wanted to get some credit, ya know?) When introduced to people at the party, a bunch of them exclaimed, "Oh! You made the invitations! I loved them!"

This is what my desk looked like after the first night. Yeesh.

The next step was the paper punches. It's so easy. You slip the paper under the punch, push, and voila! You can either take the cutouts and paste them onto paper, or punch them into the paper itself and use it that way.

Big Tip #2: I decided to get white paper and silver cardstock for this, because I thought that it would be an interesting mix of the two textures. Bad idea. The punches are not made for cardstock, and you have to pretty much jump on the punch to make it go through. So, just use light-weight paper, like the stuff you use to print letters or essays on.

I then glued the punches to the lower left corner. The best way to do this is to just punch ten million of the shape, and separate them by color.

Be gentle with the snowflakes, if you use them, because their little arms rip off easily.

Almost done with the invitation part! I took my flat-textured stamp, and stamped it up the side to fill it up.

Now, print out your information and get ready to put them on.

Big Tip #3 and #4: Get one of these glue-stick-strip things, instead of an actual glue stick. MUCH easier and neater. Also, I beg of you, get a paper cutter. I can't cut a straight line with scissors to save my life, and a paper cutter would have significantly cut down on my time.

Finished invitation!!!

You're not done yet. You still need to do RSVP's and envelopes.

This is pretty much the same as the invite. I just glued a snowflake on and used glitter glue to put on a rhinestone in the middle of it.

Big Tip #5: Don't be an idiot like me. Write "Mr./Ms.___________" on the RSVP. Most of my dad's friends were smart enough to write their name somewhere on there, but a few just checked "I am able to attend" without putting a name, so we had to try and be like Sherlock Holmes and deduce the attendee by handwriting analysis and postal code. (It didn't work).

Here's the big envelope. I embossed a large snowflake and two little snowflakes in the upper left corner. I also hand-wrote them, because I have really good handwriting. I swear, hand-writing things like invitations is a form of therapy for me. I find it relaxing. It's weird, I know.

If you forgot how to write in script, re-learn it. It's totally worth it. (My 3rd grade teacher would be so proud).

Here's the finished product! On your RSVP envelopes, write the party host's name and address and be sure to put a stamp on. I put a little snowflake stamp on the back. Put all your stuff in the big envelope, and include directions to your venue. (The venue, if it's a catering hall or country club, probably has printed-out ones that you can slip in).

Seal them, and send them on their way!

If you have extra supplies, you can always find a way to use them.

For this, I used a leftover blue card and some paper. I used the paper punches across the bottom and hand-wrote the note. I Love writing thank-you notes with a capital L. They always make people smile.

Creme Brulee

2010-01-07T23:35:00.000-05:00

Creme Brulee is like heaven. It's my favorite dessert. The crackling of the sugar when you dip your spoon into it... the creaminess of unhealthy levels of cream, eggs, and sugar... mmmMMMMMmm. I hadn't made it in a long time, but I made champagne cupcakes for New Year's Eve, which required six egg whites, and I had six leftover egg yolks and creme brulee was the perfect dish to use them for. MmmMMMmmm. Just thinking about it makes me hungry. I finished off the last one yesterday.

Don't even know what creme brulee is? Well, it's easy to make, and soooogoood.

The first time I made it was with my friends Danielle and Elizabeth, when we were in high school. The language department of our school had a dessert contest, and we had to make a dessert that corresponded to the language we took. Danielle, Elizabeth, and I had been in French class with each other forever (and still couldn't speak a word of it), and we decided to make creme brulee. It kicked ass, was totally delicious, and we still lost the dessert competition. I'm still outraged.

Okay, Majestic Domestic. Get over your bad self.

Anyways, Step One is to preheat the oven to 325, get your ingredients, and your baking utensils. You'll need ramekins for this recipe.

I found some for about a dollar each at, surprisingly, the hardware store. I went there to get shelf liners and an exacto-knife for another craft project I'm working on, and wandered into the small cooking section. Much to my delight, I found a zillion cool cooking pans for about a third of what they cost elsewhere. Madeleine pans for $11? Yes, please.

Anyways, the original creme brulee recipe is from here. I halved it for this recipe, because my family members are all either diabetic or on a New Year's diet. Seriously, I have a perpetual urge to bake delicious and elaborate desserts, and absolutely no one to share them with. Please take them off my hands.

For the whole recipe, you'll need: 1 quart of heavy cream, six egg yolks, 1 cup of sugar, and a vanilla bean. How easy is this recipe?!

Here's the heavy cream and vanilla bean. What's a vanilla bean? It's where vanilla extract comes from. They're really good to use in recipes, but are really expensive. So, if you don't feel like spending a lot of money on one for one recipe, you can just substitute a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Step Two: Pour the cream into a medium-sized saucepan. Now, it's time to cut the vanilla bean. Cut it in half lengthwise, and scrape the little seeds out into the cream. Then, put the pod into the cream too. Turn the heat up to medium-high.

Here are some of the seeds.

Step Three: While you're waiting for the cream and vanilla to boil, take your egg yolks and whisk them with a cup of sugar for about a minute or two. When the cream boils, take it off the stove and let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Boiling cream. The little black flecks you see are the vanilla bean seeds.

Step Four: Take the pod part of the vanilla bean out of the cream. You can do this by straining the cream into another bowl. Then, gradually add the cream to the egg mixture, while stirring continually.

Step Five: Pour the mixture into ramekins. Then, put the ramekins into a roasting pan. Pour hot water into the roasting pan, until the water reaches halfway up the ramekins.

Step Six: Bake for forty to forty-five minutes in the oven. Then, carefully take the roasting pan out of the oven. Now, you have to move your boiling hot ramekins to the fridge. Don't even get me started on this wonderful task. (Does sarcasm come across online? I sure hope so.)

I first tried to do it with my bare hand, and burned my fingertips. I then put a baking glove on, which worked for about a half a second, until the ramekin slipped and THIS happened:

Charming. The ramekin on the bottom slipped and dropped creme-brulee-side-down into the water. I was not very happy when this happened.

The best way to do it is to put a potholder on your palm, then using your opposite hand, quickly pick up the hot ramekin and put it on the hand with the potholder on it. Then, make a mad dash for the fridge before you drop the @#$%@&! ramekin again.

Let the ramekins sit in the fridge for at least two hours.

Step Seven: Now, the "brulee" part of creme brulee is the sugar on the top. You're supposed to use a kitchen torch, a really cool gadget that I don't own. Don't fret, however: You can caramelize the sugar using your oven's broiler. Move an oven rack so it's from four to six inches from the top of the oven. Turn the broiler on "high." Sprinkle about two tablespoons of granulated sugar on top of each creme brulee, until the top is uniformly covered. Put your ramekins on a baking sheet, and place under the broiler.

This part is kind of difficult. My advice is to prop the oven door open. You have to watch these suckers like a hawk, because the sugar will burn easily under the hot broiler. Also, the individual desserts sometime cook at different rates, so one may be almost burnt while the other is just starting to caramelize. The entire process takes from three to five minutes, so just make sure to watch it the whole time.

Take them out when the creme brulee looks like this. Droolingly-delicious.

Step Eight: Refrigerate for another thirty minutes or so, if you caramelized the sugar using the broiler method.

Step Nine: Get out a spoon. Gently crack the caramelized sugar with it. Devour.

OMG.

*Tip that I discovered when I finished my creme brulee: the vanilla bean seeds may sink to the bottom. To the uneducated observer, this may look kind of gross. So, if your guests will be averse to this, just use vanilla extract instead.

Perfect Spaghetti Sauce

2010-01-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

I apologize for my lack of posts. Between studying for my LSAT for approximately eight hours a day, doing research assistant work, and trying to have a life, I haven't had time to upload pictures in a few days.

What's on the docket for today?

Perfect Pasta Sauce!

Marinara/Spaghetti/Pasta (choose your moniker) sauce is easy to make, but unfortunately, so many people just empty a jar of Ragu into a saucepan instead of taking the extra few minutes to do it right.

Never fear! It's a really forgiving recipe, and almost impossible to mess up.

Step One: Compile your basic ingredients. Because I made this in the dead of winter during a snowstorm, I was unable to procure fresh tomatoes and herbs. Therefore, the ingredients for this particular recipe consist of: 2 (28 ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes; dried oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley; worcestershire sauce; olive oil; one onion; six cloves of garlic. In the spring and summer, you can easily use real tomatoes for the base and fresh herbs for seasoning.

Step Two: Heat about two tablespoons of olive oil on medium in a large dutch oven or pot. Chop one onion, and put it into the pot.

Stir it around a few times, too.

Step Three: Take the garlic, and either chop it finely with a knife or crush it with a garlic press. Put the garlic in the pot with the onions, stir it, and let cook until the onions are translucent. (About five to ten minutes).

The garlic on the left was crushed in my garlic press. The garlic on the right was chopped with a knife. It's really up to you which way you want to do it, but I usually use the garlic press because it takes up less time.

Step Four: Open your cans of tomatoes and pour them into the pot. Now, here's the interesting part. You can put in pretty much anything you want. For this recipe, I used two tablespoons of oregano, two tablespoons of "Italian Seasoning" that I had in my cupboard, one tablespoon of crushed rosemary, and two tablespoons of dried basil. I also put in a tablespoon each of coarse salt and pepper. (If you're using fresh herbs, use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of each).

Cooking tip: Coarse, or kosher, salt is best to use in recipes. It clings to the food better, and is harder to oversalt with than regular table salt.

I also usually put a dash of worcester sauce and a pinch of sugar in my spaghetti sauce, a trick that Loving Boyfriend taught me. There is one other important ingredient in spaghetti sauce: baking soda. Put in about a half a teaspoon. It cuts down the acidity of the tomatoes.

(Embarrassing anecdote: when Loving Boyfriend and I started dating three years ago, he came to my house to meet my dad a few weeks into our relationship. We were making this same recipe together, and in my nervousness, I accidentally dumped about three tablespoons of baking soda into the sauce, which caused it to bubble and fizz with loud and crackling fury. Luckily, it still tasted good, but I felt like a huge idiot. Not the best way to impress your new boyfriend with your cooking skills.)

Step Five: You're done! Well, almost. After stirring in the ingredients, let the sauce boil. After it has boiled, turn it down to a simmer. Let it simmer on the stove for... as long as you want, but for thirty minutes at the very least. The longer it simmers, the longer the flavors have to mature and blend together, making a more delicious sauce. Just make sure to stir it every once in a while, so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.

Bon appetit!

Happy New Years!

2010-01-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

Happy 2010! I hope that everyone had a great night. How did I spend New Year's? Sick and gross. My friend had a New Year's Eve party, and I was too sick to imbibe anything remotely alcoholic, so I made champagne cupcakes instead. Everyone seemed to like them, which was good. I've spent most of today sleeping and being unbearably lazy.

I'm not a big New Year's resolutions person, but I've made a few cooking and crafting goals for this year. Want to know what they are?

1. Learn to knit. I feel as though knitting something will fulfill my perpetual need to "produce" something, whether it be a scarf or a misshapen pair of mittens.

2. Learn to make my own preserves. I really, really want to learn how to make my own jam. I know, I'm so weird.

3. Learn photography. If you haven't noticed, I don't have a good camera and know nothing about taking pictures. I was thinking of taking a photo course at school this semester, but it was five hours straight on Fridays, which just wasn't happening. Therefore, I may have to teach myself.

4. Start a garden this summer. My dad was a huge gardener back when he was younger. Two years ago, my little brother had a garden in our backyard, but was too lazy to do it this year. This summer, I want to take over and grow my own vegetables.

5. Do more crafting. This may be difficult, because I have limited time and funds. But I really want to make more of my own stationary, do my own silkscreening, etc. etc.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Jelled Champagne with Strawberries

2009-12-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

I made these delish treats for my annual Christmas dinner party. I tried to make them last year, but the gelatin didn't solidify enough and it turned into a mess whose texture can only be described as "spongy." Not very good. This year, however, I aced it. It's best to make this the morning of your party... and it's a great New Year's Eve party dessert.

Here's what you need.

*4 cups of cold White Grape juice, divided

*4 cups champagne or sparkling wine (if making for kids, use sparkling cider or club soda)

*4 Tbs. granulated sugar

*2 Tbs. unflavored gelatin (the packets should have measurements on them. I think that I used two)

*strawberries (I used frozen, because fresh are not in season)

The original recipe is from here. I doubled it, which should have made sixteen, but only made ten.

Step One: Thaw your strawberries, if you have frozen ones. You can either leave them in the fridge over night, or poke holes in the bag and microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for 2 1/2 minutes. Make sure to then wash the strawberries well.

Step Two: Pour two cups of the cold grape juice in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin on top, and let rest for a minute.

Step Three: Heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved, about five minutes or so. (I think this is where I messed up when I made it last time: make sure it's completely dissolved. Stir the sugar in until dissolved.

Step Four: Remove the the mixture from heat. Stir in the other two cups of cold grape juice, and let it sit until it has reached room temperature.

Step Five: Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Pop the champagne bottle, and pour in the four cups of champagne. Stir it gently.

Step Six: Take out your champagne flutes. Pour the mixture into the flutes, about 1/2 way up. Don't use it all, though: you'll need some leftover. Make sure that the mixture is even across all the glasses, if you're detail-oriented like I am. Plop a strawberry on top, and put the flutes and the reserved mixture in the fridge.

Pre-strawberries.

Now, the original recipe says that the champagne will turn into jello in an hour. For me, it took from three to four hours. So, if it's still liquidy after an hour, let it sit for awhile.

When it's turned into jello, take the bowl of the reserved mixture and put it into a food processor or blender. Process or blend it until it's foamy. Spoon the foam into the glasses, and let sit for another hour.

Here's a crappy picture that I took of my finished product,

but here's a better picture from the original recipe.

It's a great dessert... not too sweet, and perfect for a special party or event. Bon appetit!

Teacup Candles

2009-12-29T02:45:00.002-05:00

I saw these on Martha Stewart's website a while ago, and I definitely knew that I wanted to make them as soon as possible. Of course, Christmas was a good occasion!

The first step is to procure teacups and saucers. I got these pre-wrapped ones, but you can probably get less expensive ones at a thrift store or flea market. Your mom or grandma might even have a few that they don't use, and this is a great way to recycle them.

Don't worry, the ribbons will come off.

Now, time to get your supplies, easily found in any craft store.

You'll need: The aforementioned teacups, a hot glue gun, a block of wax (I got 2 lbs), wicks (if possible, get the pre-dipped ones), a candlemaking thermometer, something to stick the wicks to the cups (Tacky Wax is a good way to do it), and skewers. If you want color and fragrance, you'll have to get those too. I used purple coloring and lavender fragrance. The block of color goes a long way, but I used the whole bottle of fragrance for the six candles I made.

Step One:

Melt your wax. You'll need a double boiler, and if you're going to make candles a lot, you should buy a cheap one just for this purpose. Why? Getting wax out of pots and pans is a pain in the neck. I didn't use a double boiler because I was missing part of mine, so I took a small saucepan and a medium-sized bowl. I had to melt my wax in two separate parts, because of the size of the bowl.

Put your stove on medium high, until the water in the small saucepan boils. Stick your candy thermometer into the bowl. The wax takes about ten to fifteen minutes to melt.

Step Two:

While your wax is melting, prepare your teacups. Hot glue the teacup to the saucer. Take a small amount of the Tacky Wax and place it in the center of the empty teacup. (If you don't have the pre-dipped wicks, coat the wick with the melted wax on the stove and wait for it to dry. If you have the pre-dipped ones, don't worry about it.) Press the metal part of the wick on the Tacky Wax, until it is in place. Take a skewer, place it across the top of the cup, and cut off the extra. Then, twist it around the skewer.

Cutting off the extra wick before twisting it on the skewer...

...and finished!

Step Three:

After the wax has reached about 180 degrees, lower the heat and wait for it to reach 175 degrees. The block of colored wax I got was marked in eight different places: I cut one of the eight sections in half and it was more than enough coloring. Stir in the colored wax, and stir in the fragrance when it reaches 170 degrees.

I know, I know. It's scarily purple. However, it will lighten in color when the wax hardens.

Step Four:

Carefully pour the hot wax into the cups, stopping about a half an inch from the top. Then, just hang out and wait for them to harden. Make sure to save the extra wax.

About a half hour later, take an extra skewer and poke holes in the wax towards the wick, so air bubbles can escape. A well will have formed near the wick... don't worry, it's okay. We'll fix it later.

Step Five:

Wait for another half-hour. Read a magazine. Watch the news. Paint your toenails. Then, heat up the reserved wax until it is fully melted. Pour a small amount until the well near the center of the candle has filled. After it has hardened, you may have to do this a few times.

Step Six:

Once you're satisfied with the surface of the candle and it has fully hardened, cut the wick to 1/4 inch above the candle. Wrap it in a box and give it to your loved ones (or keep it for yourself).

The finished product!

Christmas!

2009-12-29T02:19:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone had a good holiday! I know that I did.

On Tuesday, I had my annual holiday dinner party for my closest friends. This year, I cooked for ten. My friends brought side dishes or appetizers, because I got home on Saturday night and didn't have time or energy to cook everything.

What was the menu?

First Course:

Spinach-Artichoke Dip (made by Loving Boyfriend)

Feta-Tomato Bruschetta (made by me)

Cheese & Crackers (bought by my friend Paul, who lives in Paris and smuggled the cheese in from France. Its illicit journey made it even more delicious).

Shrimp Cocktail (brought by my friend Liza and her boyfriend Matt)

Second Course:

Delicious salad with apples and goat cheese (made by my friend Olivia)

Third Course:

Butternut Squash Lasagna (made by me)

Parsnips and Carrots (made by my friend Jen)

Stuffed Peppers (made by my friend Vi)

Sweet Potato Casserole (made by my friend Danielle)

Fourth Course:

Roasted Duck with Apple-Cornbread Stuffing (made by me and Loving Boyfriend)

Roasted Potatoes (Made by me, which I didn't even serve because everyone was disgustingly stuffed by this point)

Fifth Course:

Almond cake with cannoli filling and Chocolate-Bailey's icing (made by me)

Champagne Jello (unflavored gelatin, mixed with white grape juice and champagne... made by me)

All in all, it was a fab party. Here were the place cards:

I love making place cards. They were made with cardstock, a red pen, and stickers. I bought the ornament place card holders at Michael's. The poinsettia stickers weren't my first choice, but Michael's had been ransacked and I had to scrounge on the bottom shelves for anything holiday-themed.

Here's the finished table:

The centerpiece was a glass bowl filled with glittery ornaments. The favors I gave were homemade cookies-and-cream truffles.

What about real Christmas? Loving Boyfriend and I were in charge of the menu for Christmas day.

First Course:

Salad with feta cheese, dried cranberries, and almonds & a homemade dressing

Second Course:

Seared Pork Loin with Cranberry Chutney (taken from The Pioneer Woman)

Garlic-Roasted Mashed Potatoes

Lemon Asparagus

Third Course:

Pavlova topped with candied Cranberries and Strawberries

Of course, all the recipes that I've made, I'll be posting on here. However, I'm trying to stockpile a few posts for when I go back to school and won't be cooking, so you may have to wait for a few of them.

And Christmas presents? Well, well, well.

What I Made:

* Homemade candles in teacups (for two of my cousins and my other cousin's fiance)

*Pint glasses etched with monograms, along with beer of course (for my cousin and my other cousin's husband)

* Thanksgiving scrapbook (for my aunt)

*"Coupon" book of my Uncle's favorite recipes that I make for him (for my Uncle, duh)

*Calendar with family pictures (for my Dad)

*Picture frame (for my cousin's daughter... is that a cousin once-removed? Or a second cousin?)

Majestic-Domestic-Related Items That I Received:

My own stand mixer!!!!

Cookbooks and Crafting Books!!!! I almost died when I opened the Encyclopedia of Crafts. Loving Boyfriend got me The Conscious Cook, which is a fantastic cookbook on creating delicious food that happens to be vegan. I'm definitely not a vegan (hence the roasted duck), but I'm not the biggest meat fan. A few years ago, I obsessively read "Skinny Bitch," and Loving Boyfriend couldn't stand the bland quinoa mashes I made. He told me that if I'm going to make *gasp* healthy food, I might as well make tasty healthy food.

And, la piece de resistance... I got not one, but TWO snuggies. I gave the blue one to my brother and am currently cuddled up in the leopard print one right now.

Majestic Domestic Holiday Gift Guide!

2009-12-19T17:18:00.003-05:00

Listen to my fave Christmas song while you read this! Sorry for the stupid video, it's the only one I could find.

I know, I know, Christmas is less than a week away and Hanukah is almost over. But bear with me, this past week was finals week and I've had about seven hours of sleep in as many days.

If you're like me, you'll be making gifts for all your family members. I really want to post a how-to with pictures for everything I'm making, but said family members will be reading here and I don't want to ruin the surprise... so you'll have to wait until December 26th.

But, I can give some ideas! Click on "read more" to, well, read more.

Making Your Own Gifts

(I chose some quick ones that can be made in a few days).

Now, making your own gifts can be less expensive than buying them. Note that I used the word "can." Depending on what you make, after the money you spend on materials and the time you spend crafting the gifts, it might have been better to just drive to the mall and buy it. However, hand-made gifts are always more meaningful and in my experience, more appreciated than mass-produced ones.

*Teacup candles are really pretty, and relatively easy to make. Find out how here. NOTE: I may or may not be posting my own tutorial on making these after Christmas. ;)

*Have you ever gotten those popcorn tins with caramel popcorn in them? Martha Stewart shows how to make them here.

*Do you have a friend that's obsessed with his or her dog? Paint the pup's name on a doggie bowl.

*For your boyfriend who's obsessed with his car, and thinks that a map and a compass are far superior to a GPS (not that I'm speaking from experience here or anything): his own personal travel kit!

*I so badly wanted to make this painted china this Christmas, but I don't have time.. It's dot-painted, which means you just put little dots on the pattern, so it's really easy to make. Martha Stewart's website even includes the templates. It could also be an awesome gift for a housewarming or wedding.

*Body Scrub is probably the easiest and least expensive gift you could make. You could also add homemade lip balm and bath fizzies and make someone a spa basket.

Store-Bought Gifts

(can be just as fun!)

*For your friend who wants to be Lady Gaga in her next life (come on, we all have one of these): Lady Gaga Barbie Dolls!

*I've wanted a sleep mask like Holly Golightly's since I first saw "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in sixth grade... Luckily, now you can have one!

*For the hypochondriac in your life.

*For your friend who's a chem major: a test tube shot glass set.

*If I had more money and didn't make a mere $12 an hour, I would buy this portable sewing machine for all my art school friends.

*I've been coveting this for about six months now. If you really love the crafter in your life, you'll get him or her this book and a gift certificate to a local craft store.

* Etsy, the crafting website/store, has a smorgasbord of awesome stuff to buy. Warning: It will suck you in for at least six hours.

There's tons of handmade jewelry, and it's way less expensive than the stuff you'd buy at a jewelry store. Plus, most of it is made by independent artists.

*For your favorite young feminist: Jessica Valenti's books. Preferably all of them. But, if you only want to get one, start with Full Frontal Feminism, which is kind of an introduction to feminism. I also have He's a Stud, She's a Slut, And 49 Other Double Standards Every Women Should Know, which is about, as the title says, double standards that apply to women and not men. I got Yes Means Yes: Visions of Sexual Power and A World Without Rape last year at a Center for New Words event, and it is awesome as well. I still need to get the Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women, but I've heard that it's fantastic.

*Make your own calendar for someone. I did this last year... I think it cost $12 total. You put twelve pictures, one for each month, on a flash drive. (Label the file "Dad Christmas Calendar" or something, and label each picture "January 2010" etc.) Bring the flash drive to Staples, and they'll make it up on nice glossy paper and bind it for you in just a few hours. It's a good gift for a parent: put baby pictures interspersed with newer ones. Parents eat that stuff up. (Incidentally, my dad accidentally threw his calendar out with the wrapping paper last year).

Hopefully this gives you a good start! I'm itching to show you my handmade gifts that I'm doing for my family and friends.... just a few more days, I promise!

Angel Food Cake

2009-12-11T00:50:00.001-05:00

So, dear readers, I have a secret to confess. I'm quite ashamed of it. Please don't judge me or love me any less. It's just that...

....
....

I can't beat egg whites.

You non-bakers must think that this is no big deal. But really, it is! How can someone make meringue? Or pavlova? Or angel food cake? You see, egg whites are supposed to be beaten until "stiff peaks form." Have you ever seen egg whites in a bowl? They're like goo. And to make a whole bunch of really delicious recipes, you're supposed to make them look like this.

Now, I have tried every trick in the book. I've pored over Julia Child. I've googled it a million times. The thing is, I need one of these:

But all I have is a pitiful little hand mixer. (Believe me, I've been heavily lobbying for my very own stand mixer for Christmas *AHEM DAD COUGH COUGH*).

I've tried every trick in the book. Clean bowl, room-temperature eggs, everything. A few years ago, I wanted to make Loving Boyfriend a delicious pavlova filled with strawberries for one of our anniversaries. I stood with my beaters for over twenty minutes, hopelessly beating the gooey egg whites. I was so discouraged and sad. We had ice cream instead.

Sigh. It was just not to be.

This past summer, I vowed that I would beat those little bastards into submission. I stood in the kitchen for half an hour, until my poor little arm nearly fell off. The bowl was filled with liquidy egg whites. I threw them in the sink and went off to bed, feeling like a total failure. Julia would be so disappointed!

My aunt's birthday was in June. I asked her what she wanted me to make... I hoped it would be something fun and challenging, like a torte or something with fondant. But noooooo.... she wanted angel food cake. My heart filled with terror and dread. The creepy "Phantom of the Opera" organ theme played, and lightening struck.

Luckily, they sell angel food cake in a box. All you do is add a few tablespoons of water and pour it in a pan.

Now listen here, you young whippersnappers. This is the only time that you're allowed to use cake mix from a box. Here's how I view it: cake mix (and canned frosting, for that matter) requires no creativity whatsoever. Every single cake made from a box tastes the same. You don't get to experiment, or be creative. It's pretty much against my moral code.

But, if you're a hopeless non-egg-white-beating-failure like I am, buy the angel food cake from a box. Follow the directions. Pour it into a bundt pan.

Thankfully, angel food cake is a blank slate. Now, my aunt likes it because it's simple and fat free. But simple? Ha! Majestic Domestic doesn't do simple! Over here, we add delicious and fantastic toppings to it that will make you hyperglycemic!

Ok, I made the picture a littttle too big. But just stare at it!

So, here's what I made, and they are SO easy to make. No more than three ingredients each.
Strawberry Basil Sauce
Whipped Cream
Chocolate Sauce

Unfortunately, this was before my blogging days, so I didn't take step-by-step pictures. Bear with me.

Strawberry Basil Sauce:
This was in the summer, when basil is in season. Basil is one of God's greatest gifts to the planet. And it goes fantastically with strawberries. TRUST.
1 pint strawberries (you can use frozen if fresh aren't available).
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup finely minced basil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cut the strawberries in half. Put the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally, for about 20 minutes. The strawberries will cook down and thicken. When there are no more chunks and the sauce is thick, pour into a bowl and refrigerate. It will continue to thicken.

Whipped Cream:
I may not be able to beat egg whites, but I can make whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream is a million times better than the junk from a can.
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbs. confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
If possible, put your beaters and a metal bowl in the freezer about a half hour before making this. Then, pour the cream in and beat it on high until it begins to thicken. Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat until thick and peaks form. It will be a little fluffier than the canned stuff.

Chocolate Sauce:
1/2 bag of chocolate chips
1/2 Tbs. of crisco
I know, crisco is gross, but it's necessary when making chocolate sauce and for chocolate covered strawberries. Melt the two ingredients in the microwave or over low heat on the stove.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries:
Other 1/2 of the bag of chocolate chips
1 Tbs. Crisco
Same thing as above, but pour it into a small, deep bowl when done. Then, dip your washed strawberries, and place them on parchment paper until dry.

Put your angel food cake on a platter. Here is the fun part. I put some whipped cream in the hole of the bundt. I then drizzled the strawberry sauce on top, then the chocolate sauce. I surrounded the cake with whipped cream, and lay the strawberries on top.
Let's admire it again. The whole shebang takes less than an hour to make: you can make the toppings while the cake is baking. And hopefully, you can forgive yourself for using the boxed cake when you see the look on your family's face when you bring this to the table.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

2009-12-10T23:58:00.001-05:00

Now, I don't like cooked spinach. And I'm not in love with artichokes. But when it comes to spinach artichoke dip? Oh mannn.

If you have a party to go to, bring this. Everyone will love it. And it's easy to make.

(Disclaimer: to me, anything short of making a souffle is "easy," because I'm a total weirdo who relishes challenges. Also, cooking is mostly a series of instructions and rules, and I'm really good at following instructions and rules. I apologize if I underestimate the difficulty of a recipe for less experienced cooks... but believe me, you can do it! Everything I've learned, I've taught myself, and if I can do it, you can too!)

Now, back to being the most popular person at your family party and winning everyone over with your delicious spinach artichoke dip.

Step 1: Ingredients. (Original recipe from here, but modified). 1 8oz. package of cream cheese softened for 30 seconds in the microwave, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup parmesan (plus 1/2 cup for the top), 1/4 cup romano, about five or six cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of basil, 1 can artichoke hearts, and 1 thawed package of frozen spinach.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking dish with PAM or butter. Now, take all of your garlic. The original recipe calls for one measly clove. However, the ingredients in this recipe are kind of bland. Without the garlic and basil, it's pretty much just cream cheese and sour cream, which are not very exciting.

Do you know how to get the garlic out of the clove? You could stand there for five minutes peeling it off, or I could teach you an easy trick.

Put your garlic clove on its side. I usually the side of a large knife for the next part, but my aunt had this metal thing in her kitchen, which was perfect. Take the knife (or metal thing) and press down on the garlic clove, hard. You'll hear kind of a cracking sound. Now, just peel the papery stuff off. Easy!

Step 3: Open your can of artichokes. Drain the liquid into the sink. Now, you have to chop them. It looks gross, but they're so good in the recipe that it's worth it.

I told you that it wasn't pretty.

Step 4: Put your cream cheese in a large bowl. I recommend beating it with a mixer until it's smooth, instead of just stirring it. Then, add the sour cream, garlic, basil, cheese, and some salt and pepper. Now, you can stir in the artichokes and spinach. Because I'm not a huge spinach fan, I only used about half the package.

Step 5: Spread it in a baking dish. I know, it's uneven. Modern Family was on and I was rushing to get done.

Sprinkle the extra 1/2 cup of cheese on top. You can actually just put it in the fridge and take it to the dinner party like this, and put it in your host's oven for fifteen minutes when you get there. Or, you can put it in the oven for about fifteen minutes now. It is done when the cheese on top is brown and bubbly.

So, I put the oven on for five more minutes on Thanksgiving Day, then went to get my jacket upstairs, and the wild beasts had already devoured a quarter of my dip in the five seconds that I was gone.

If you want to be the most popular and beloved holiday guest this season, make this. Trust me.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

2009-12-10T23:25:00.003-05:00

I know, I know. It's been almost a week since I last posted. It's finals time, and I have a cumulative 50+ pages to write in all of my classes, so please have some mercy on me.

So today, we'll be talking about chocolate pecan pie. I know, I've been a little overboard on the pies lately, but I was home for Thanksgiving and everyone knows that Thanksgiving is pie season 'round these parts.

A few days before Thanksgiving, one of my best friends since 8th grade, Danielle, came over to help me slave over a hot stove. (Thanks baby gurl, I owe you one).

The first pie we made was chocolate pecan pie. It's full of delicious things like chocolate... and pecans. And it's easy (as pie) to make. Ugh, even I'm disgusted at that pun.

The original recipe is from here, but is modified as usual.

Step 1: Ingredients. The official ingredients are 1/3 cup of butter, 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, 3 eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 cup light corn syrup, and one cup pecan halves.

Well, here's the deal, chickadees. I know that the picture shows sugar and cocoa powder. And the original recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate and sugar. But, I had no unsweetened chocolate in my house and was not going out in the cold to get some. So, I modified it with chocolate chips. Be patient, you'll see.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 375. Now, if you have unsweetened chocolate, melt it over the stovetop with the butter. Unsweetened chocolate comes in little 1 0unce squares; if a recipe calls for two ounces, just use two squares. It's normally in the baking aisle, right above the chocolate chips, near the top shelf. (As you can see, I have the baking aisle setup of grocery stores memorized. This is probably not normal.)

When melting chocolate you're supposed to do it over a double boiler, which is pretty much a saucepan full of boiling water with another empty one on top. Chocolate burns extremely easily, so the double boiler keeps it from burning.

NOW. I never use a double boiler, especially when melting chocolate with butter. I know, I'm going to cooking school hell. Just put your chocolate and butter in a saucepan on low, or melt it in the microwave.

And.... if you don't have unsweetened chocolate? Just measure out a few handfuls of chocolate chips! Melt them and the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave. Most importantly: if you use chocolate chips instead, omit the sugar later in the recipe.

Step 3: beat your eggs, salt, sugar, chocolate mix, and corn syrup. (Remember, if you used chocolate chips instead, forget the sugar). Beat it, beat it. No one wants to be defeated. Just beat it (beat it beat it). Also, I know corn syrup is gross and causes Americans to be obese, but it makes this recipe really good. This is actually the only recipe I ever cook with corn syrup, I promise.

Now, cut about a cup of pecans in half. In all honesty, I used a tad too many pecans in this recipe. So, if you're not totally in love with them, use about 1/2 a cup. Pour it into the chocolate mix.

Look, Danielle! Your thumb is famous!

Now, pour your pie filling into your crust. Yeah, this recipe is that easy.

Recognize that pie crust? It's the one I made in my pie crust post! It's essential to leave some filling in the bowl, however. Licking the spoon is an integral part of every recipe.

Step 4: If you're creative, this is the fun part. It you're not, just throw some extra whole pecans on top.

If you're like Danielle and me, you'll spend 15 minutes painstakingly placing pecans in concentric circles on the top.

Now, you should know the drill by now. Cover a cookie sheet in foil. Put the pie on top. Then, cover the pie in foil. This is so the edges don't burn and that the pecans on top don't burn. Bake that sucka' for about 45 minutes, but check on it 30 mins in to make sure it's doing okay. I swear, pies are like babies.

The big hole in the middle is where I stuck a knife in to make sure it was done. (In this regard, pies are not like babies).

Artsy! Just kidding. I know that this is a terrible picture. I need a new camera. And photography skills.

This pie is perfect for chocolate fiends in your life. The sad and pathetic part is that this one didn't even make it to a plate. Loving Boyfriend and my family members just kept eating it out of the pie tin until it was all gone.

Butternut Squash Risotto

2009-12-04T01:00:00.000-05:00

So, I got the feeling that my dessert posts of the past few days are not everyone's cup of tea. Some people actually like real food more than desserts. Crazy, right? Well, good thing I like making real food, too!

One of my favorite things to make is risotto. Risotto is a mix between rice and pasta. You use Arborio rice, which you can find in almost any grocery store. When made the right way, it's creamy, flavorful, and delicious. The great thing about risotto is that you can add almost anything to it. Lemon zest, asparagus, shrimp, mushrooms, whatever you think of. It's very versatile.

Over Thanksgiving break, I made it with butternut squash, one of my top 5 favorite things in the world (this list also includes dark chocolate, the Real Housewives of Orange County, sleeping, and 90's pop music. In no particular order).

99% of the time, I buy the real squash and roast it in the oven. However, when making risotto, I buy the frozen stuff and steam it on the stove.

So, let's get started.

I really don't have a recipe for this: I've made it so many times, it's kind of in my head. As I've written before, I never really use precise measurements, so I apologize if they seem arbitrary. What you'll need: a little bit of olive oil, 1/4 stick of butter, 1/2 an onion, 1 bag of frozen squash, 1 box of Arborio rice, 32 oz. chicken or vegetable broth, a few cloves of garlic, a little bit of dry white wine, and about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. (This time, I only had a bag of the "Italian blend" cheese, but you're really supposed to use parmesan or romano).

Now, chop up your onions. I only learned how to properly chop an onion last Christmas, when Loving Boyfriend bought me Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vols. 1 & 2 by Julia Child. (I spent Christmas night on my couch, reading the cookbooks from start to finish. I'm not kidding. I love reading cookbooks. There's something wrong with me. And if you've ever seen Julia & Julia, yes, there is a recipe for deboned duck, and yes it did scare me. In fact, when I started this blog, Loving Boyfriend said, "Please don't tell me you'll be deboning a duck on the internet.")

So, what was my point? Ah, yes. Chopping onions. It's hard to describe in writing, so watch this creepy video I found on youtube:

Now, some people whine about how they don't like onions or garlic. First of all, onions and garlic are good for you. Second of all, if you cook them the right way, they're delicious. To me, not liking these ingredients is a serious personality flaw akin to disliking cats and being a Republican.

I know, I know, it looks like a lot.

Listen to me, you onion and garlic haters. In a dish like this, they will be cooked down so much that you won't taste the strong flavors. By the time you eat it, they'll be sauteed in butter, cooked in wine, and blended with the other ingredients.

Melt the putter in a large saucepan. Then, add your onions and garlic.

I apologize for the sorry state of my cooking pans. My darling little brother decides to make omelettes in them sometimes, and takes a BARBECUE TOOL to push the eggs around with. I can't talk about it anymore, even thinking about it makes my blood pressure rise.

Cook the onions and garlic on medium heat for about five minutes, until they're soft and translucent. Don't let them turn brown, however.

While your onions are cooking, put the broth in a saucepan on medium-high heat and simmer it.

Now, add the Arborio rice.

The stuff my grocery store sells always comes in this weird, shrink-wrapped package.

Stir the rice around until it's coated with the butter and looks glossy, about three minutes. This recipe requires a lot of stirring.

Okay, now it's time to add the wine. Some recipes call for 1/2 a cup, but I just pour it from the bottle.

Now, stir the rice around until it has absorbed all the wine. At this point, the rice is very hard and crunchy. Risotto is made by continually pouring liquid into the rice, and stirring as it absorbs. Those little grains will fatten up in no time.

It's good to make this recipe with someone, so you can take turns stirring. Unfortunately, my family was all at work and I was left to do it myself. You're ideally supposed to stir continuously, though.

Now, add a little bit of water to the bottom of a small saucepan, or use a larger saucepan with a steaming basket. For some reason, I brought my steaming basked to college with me, so I didn't have it when I made this. Therefore, I just added about 1/2 of water to a smallish saucepan. Pour your butternut squash on top, cover with a lid, and turn the heat on medium.

I strongly believe that the best way to cook vegetables is to steam them for just a few minutes. I hate cooked vegetables, especially cooked carrots. Boiling vegetables or steaming them for too long leeches out all the flavor and nutrients. If you steam them for a few minutes, they turn a vibrant color (especially green beans and asparagus) and aren't too soft or crunchy. The thought of mushy, grey, over-cooked vegetables makes me shudder!

Now it's time to add your broth. This can be an awesome vegetarian dish if you use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Pour the broth into the rice, about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir the rice constantly, until the liquid is fully absorbed. It should take up to five minutes. Don't get impatient and drown it! It'll ruin the dish.

Halfway through the stirring process.

It usually takes the whole 32 ounces of broth, but sometimes a little bit less or more. If you're running out of broth and the risotto is still crunchy, just add some water to the broth and throw in a bouillion cube. Bouillion cubes are little squares of dehydrated broth. It sounds gross, but they're really helpful and turn into real broth when added to hot water.

It's very easy to know when it's done. Just taste it! If it's even the slightest bit crunchy, it's still cooking. Now, check on your butternut squash.

It should be soft, warm, and a beautiful golden-orange.

When the risotto is almost done, add about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Then, pour in your other ingredients and stir. For this recipe, I obviously used butternut squash. I also put in a dash of cinnamon to deepen the flavor of the squash and to complement the vegetarian curry I made that night as the main dish. (Don't worry, I'll put that recipe up in the next few weeks!)

Stir the ingredients for about five minutes. Then, add the parmesan cheese and stir well. Risotto is meant to be served immediately. You can keep the leftovers overnight, but they may get sticky. You might want to add a little bit of hot water and stir it around before eating it for lunch the next day.

Finished!

Here it is on the plate:

On the right is the risotto. On the left is vegetarian coconut curry with potatoes and roasted butternut squash. I usually serve risotto as a side dish, as an alternative for mashed potatoes or vegetables, but it can also be served as the main meal.

Bon appetit!

Just a note: Because I'm at school for the next two weeks, I won't be cooking. I do have a bunch of photos of completed stuff that I've made, so I'll write about those. I'll also try and write about Holiday Gift Guides and some craft projects.

Thanksgiving Crafts!

2009-11-30T23:39:00.000-05:00

I wasn't even expecting to make Thanksgiving crafts this year, until my aunt brought the supplies home. I was obviously really excited, and my cousin and I got to work.

The past few years, my aunt has bought a roll of brown craft paper to put down the length of the Thanksgiving table, and gave out crayons for everyone to draw on it with. It's a great idea... it keeps everyone occupied and entertained. (This year, there were three rambunctious children at the table, and the crayons kept them quiet and busy for at least a short time).

The great thing about this is that it can be used any time of the year: Kid's birthday party, christmas party, Arbor Day party, etc.

What you'll need: two 24-pack boxes of crayons, scissors, a hole punch, themed stickers (whatever theme you choose, this time it was obviously Thanksgiving), ribbon, and paint color samples in the colors for your theme. All the credit for this idea goes to my aunt.

First: cut the paint chip to about two inches. Make a hole punch in the middle, on both sides. Then, put your crayons below it and thread a ribbon around. Tie the ribbon in a bow and slap on a sticker.

So easy! So cute! So inexpensive! The paint color samples (find them in the paint section of Walmart/Target/Home Depot) are free. The crayons, ribbons, and stickers are inexpensive and you probably have a hole punch and scissors lying around.

Here they are all together:

Here's a close-up:

In a few weeks, my aunt and uncle are moving out of their home of over twenty years. I've spent Thanksgiving there every year since I was little, and it was sad to be there for the last time.

I used the crayons to make a portrait of everyone who was at dinner, after I finished gorging myself on homemade cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes:

Clearly, I don't attend art school.

One of my aunt's friends and her granddaughter made the place cards. They took the little bathroom cups and pasted turkeys onto them, and filled the cups with Peppermint Patties.

It's a really cute project to do with a little kid, and everyone loved their turkeys (and peppermint patties).

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Cranberry Sauce

2009-11-30T23:22:00.001-05:00

When I was little, I really liked cranberry sauce with Thanksgiving dinner, because it tasted like jello. You know the stuff:

Look at those grooves. Eeyuck.

As I grew older and my tastes refined, I grew to revile the stuff. It was so artificial. Thus, this year, I decided to make my own. Calm down, it's not very hard. All you need are three ingredients: a bag of cranberries, fruit juice, and real maple syrup (the REAL, pure stuff: the only ingredients should be maple syrup, no corn syrup or anything else).

The original recipe is from here.

Now, you'll need a bag of cranberries, a cup of maple syrup, 3 Tbs. of orange juice, and a cup of another type of juice, which is of your choice. My aunt only had OJ in her kitchen, so I used that instead of cranberry juice.

Empty the cranberries into a strainer, and wash well.

How pretty do the red cranberries look in the green strainer? Sorry, holiday colors make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Here are your other ingredients:

Seriously, this recipe could not be any easier.

Now, empty your washed cranberries into a saucepan. Pour in one cup of maple syrup and one cup plus 3 Tbs. of OJ. NOTE: Upon tasting the finished product, I would recommend using less syrup. It was really sweet, which I didn't mind, but others might. Depending on your taste, you might want to use cranberry juice (the real stuff, not the "cranberry cocktail juice" stuff) instead of OJ, or a little bit less maple syrup.

Here are all your ingredients in the saucepan. Turn the heat on high until the ingredients start boiling, then turn it down med-low to simmer. Don't forget to stir it occasionally!

Halfway through the process.

Now, the original recipe says to leave it in the pan for another 10 minutes to thicken, but I left it simmering for at least a half hour.

This is when I took it out and poured it in a bowl.

It will continue to thicken. I made it the day before Thanksgiving, so it was in the fridge for almost 24 hours.

Again, I apologize for the shoddy quality of my pictures.

The one on the left is the canned, sliced kind of cranberry sauce. The one on the right is mine! The real stuff! Which one would you rather eat?

Here's the thing: if you're used to canned sauce, you'll be expecting a jello-like texture. The real stuff has more liquid and is not as congealed as the canned kind. However, I think that it's a lot better when it's more liquidy, because you can actually spread it over your turkey and use it as sauce. Or eat it with a spoon. *ahem.* Not that I took some extra to do that with. *ahem.*

Pumpkin Cheesecake

2009-11-30T23:03:00.001-05:00

Greetings! I've been so lazy these past few days. The thought of actually uploading pictures, editing them, labeling them, and writing a blog post has been overwhelming my poor little head. But now, Thanksgiving break is over, I'm back at school, and I'm (somewhat) ready to stop being a lazybones and do some work.

So, what did I make for Thanksgiving? I went to my aunt's house and brought her caramel apple pie (from my last post!), pumpkin cheesecake, spinach-artichoke dip, and homemade cranberry sauce.

Let's get started on the pumpkin cheesecake. Now, regular pumpkin pie is okay, but it's totally boring and way too easy to make. Pumpkin filling, evaporated milk, and an egg? Come on, we can do better than that! Hence, the ridiculous, gluttonous, deliciousness that is Pumpkin Cheesecake.

The original recipe is from here, but I've modified it slightly. Gather your ingredients and get ready to clog some arteries.

Supplies: one 9" springform pan. (For those of you who are unaware: a springform pan is a two-piece pan. It's used mostly for cheesecakes. You use the latch on the side to shut and open it. When the cheesecake is done, you unlatch it and release the cake. Therefore, you don't have to flip the cake over to let it out, which would be a huge mess).

For the crust: 1 3/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs, 3 Tbs. brown sugar, 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, 1 stick melted butter. (NOTE: I added a little more brown sugar and changed out the pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon from the original recipe. As you'll learn, I usually just add ingredients based on my ever-changing whims instead of the direct rules of a recipe).

For the cheesecake: 3 8oz. packages of cream cheese, 1 15oz can pureed pumpkin (NOT the pie filling, just plain pumpkin puree), 3 eggs plus one yolk, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1.5 cups sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, 2 Tbs flour, 1 tsp. vanilla extract. (NOTE: In case you haven't baked/cooked since junior-high home ec, Tsp. means tablespoon and tsp. means teaspoon).

Sorry about the crappy quality of my photos. All I have is my old-ish Canon Powershot and iPhoto. I do what I can, y'know?

Set your oven to 350, with the racks in the lower and middle position. Cheesecakes, as you'll learn, are notoriously tricky if you're a perfectionist and want them to look right. See, I was never really concerned about cracks on the top of my cheesecakes until I was looking up recipes on Allrecipes.com one day and read the comments section. These people are insane and made me neurotic about the looks of my cheesecake. You see, cheesecakes crack really easily. If the cheesecake cools too quickly or the temperature fluctuates a lot, it will separate from the sides of the springform too quickly and cause cracks. Therefore, you need to grease the heck out of your pan, make sure the racks are positioned right, and do a whole bunch of other stuff that I'll tell you about later in the post. (Of course, if you don't care about the aesthetics of your cheesecake, don't bother with most of this crap. It tastes the same whether it's pretty or not).

Now, let's make the crust. Generously grease the sides of your springform. Seriously, PAM that baby up. Now, get a big bowl and mix the melted butter and other crust ingredients together. You'll have to use your hands. Make sure they're clean.

This is a Paula Deen recipe, and if you watch the Food Network you know that Paula Deen has a sick and unhealthy obsession with butter. Hence the ENTIRE STICK in the crust.

Now, make sure your springform is latched. Press the crust in the bottom of it and a little bit up the sides. Make sure that it's mostly even... one time I made one whose crust was a little lopsided and the whole thing came out like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Again, MAKE SURE that you put your springform on aluminum foil on top of a cookie sheet. One time, I just threw it in the oven and the butter from the crust melted all over the bottom of the oven, causing smoke to pour out. I had to open all the skylights, doors, and windows in my house to get the smell of burning butter out and stop cooking my cake until I cleaned the oven, which I couldn't do until the oven was cool.... quel disastre.

Now, it's time to make the glorious filling. Soften up your cream cheese in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds. Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until it's smooth, then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix until there are no lumps

Then, pour it into your crust.

Try not to drool.

So, now you could either put it in the oven... or add some chocolate on top!

It looks pretty good to me. But I like a challenge.

Believe me, chocolate and pumpkin are a match made in heaven. They're like Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter... Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak... Me and trashy Bravo TV reality shows...

So, melt a few handfuls of chocolate chips in the microwave. Put them in a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with a tiny piece of the corner cut off. Draw horizontal stripes on your cheesecake. Then, take a knife, and drag the chocolate in strips or swirls, creating a marbleized look.

It's pretty impossible for this to look bad. Mine didn't look how I wanted it to, so I just added more chocolate and kept swirling it.

Now, here are the important parts for you cheesecake perfectionists. Place your cheesecake in the oven, and set the timer for one hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN AT ALL. You will be tempted to open it and stare in delight at your creation, but don't! It will cause the temperature in the oven to fluctuate, causing the cheesecake to crack. Just turn your oven light on and stare at it that way. And do anything you can to ensure that certain family members don't open the oven, either.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Now, here's the next step. Make sure that at about 45 minutes in, you look in the oven (through the window with the oven light on) to see the status of the cheesecake. If it looks firm and brownish around the edges, you can turn the oven off. This is now the only time that you can open the oven. Get a butter knife, and run some hot water over until the knife is hot. Now, open the oven and gently run the knife along the edge of the cake.

Be gentle, I beseech you. This is the easiest way to crack it.

Now, the cake will cook a little bit in the oven as it cools down. You don't take it out immediately, because it will cool too quickly and begin to crack. Just leave it in there until the oven is cool.

Now, you can unlatch the springform pan. Put the cheesecake in the fridge until you're ready to serve it. Believe me, the twelve sticks of butter and twenty four packages of cream cheese are worth it. It's sooooooo good.

Unfortunately, none of my anti-cracking techniques worked on this one. The chocolate sunk into the cheesecake, causing the grand-canyon like craters you see. I was mildly heartbroken, but then I realized that my family doesn't really care about the cracks in my cheesecake. And that's what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

Here's a picture of a perfect, uncracked cheesecake I made this past summer. I covered it in homemade strawberry-basil sauce.

Caramel Apple Pie (and Pie Crust Cookies)

2009-11-23T21:10:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is literally right around the corner, and it's pie season! Last night, I made a caramel apple pie for a good friend of mine and her family. I hate when people make apple pies with canned apple filling, so I'm going to show you how to make the real thing. This isn't the easiest apple pie recipe out there, but dare I say that it's the most delicious?

Step 1: Compile your ingredients. In this case, it's two pie crusts, about seven apples, one cup of white sugar, three tablespoons of water, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of red wine, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a half of a lemon, a table spoon of flour, a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a half a stick of butter. (I got the original recipe from here, but modified it).

(The pinecones are not part of the recipe).

Step two: Core, peel, and thinly slice your apples. I know, I know, this part sucks. Feel free to find a younger sibling or other sort of minion to do it for you. Squeeze the lemon into a bowl of cold water, and put the apple slices into it to prevent browning. Important note: I always use granny smith apples in my pies. When baking apples, you need to choose a kind that will keep it's shape and flavor when cooked. A lot of the "eating" apples will turn into a tasteless mush if you use them in pies.

Feel free to taste a few to make sure they're...umm... not poisoned. You're not eating them just for kicks, you know! You need to make sure that they're safe!

Step three: Okay, here's the caramel part. Jesus H. Christmas, I never knew that making a food item whose only ingredients are sugar and water could be so freaking complicated. Most caramel apple pie recipes call for a syrup made of brown sugar, water, and white sugar but we're actually going to make the real deal. Put one cup of sugar and three tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Caramel burns reallllly easily, so make sure you don't put it too high. The sugar will melt and form a white syrup.

The stuff to the right is the red wine/heavy cream mixture. We'll need it in a few minutes. Forgive my dirty stove.

So, the sugar will melt and you'll naively think that all is well in the world. Then, your sugar/water mixture will start hardening. I've watched enough episodes of "Intervention" to know that it vaguely resembles something like crystal meth. Wait, you'll think, this isn't supposed to happen! Caramel is smooth and brown! Not white and crumbly!

I swear, I don't run a meth lab.

Fear not, dear readers. Let's learn together. I'd never made caramel before and was not expecting this to happen. I vaguely remember reading something on the reviews of the recipe that said something about "melting twice." So I waited, and frantically looked up "how to make caramel" on my trusty blackberry. Unfortunately it died mid-search and the internet in my house was on the fritz. Ugh.

But wait! It slowly started to melt again and form a delicious brown caramel. I lowered the heat so as not to burn it and stirred it frequently. It finally came out perfectly.

Delicieux.

Now, it's time to put in the heavy cream and red wine mixture. Now, the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of wine and 1/4 cup of cream. After making this and tasting the final wine/cream/caramel sauce, I would recommend reversing it. The final result was a little too wine-y and took away a lot of the caramel flavor. Take the caramel off the burner and pour in the mix.

It will make scary noises and sputter a lot. Don't burn yourself.

So now, just stir the mixture on medium-low heat until it's smooth. It may take 5-10 minutes. When I poured the cool wine/cream into the hot caramel, the caramel seized and made one big clump. You have to heat it and stir constantly until it's smooth. When that happens, pour in the vanilla and cook until "reduced by half."

I hate when recipes say "reduced by half" because I'm never really sure how to measure it. Therefore, I decided "reduced by half" meant "when I'm done cleaning up the enormous mess I made in my kitchen." You should probably wait 10-15 minutes. Make sure you cook it on low and stir occasionally, so the caramel doesn't burn.

While it's cooking, you can drain the apples and toss them with the tablespoon of flour & tablespoon of cinnamon. Then, place a layer in the bottom of the crust. (Don't worry, I'll be doing a post on pie crusts sometime this week or next week).

You don't have to make it this pretty. I was just bored while waiting for the caramel to "reduce by half."

When the caramel is done reducing, you have to wait for it to cool and thicken. Now, patience is a flower that grows not in every garden and it certainly doesn't grow in mine. I waited about five minutes, then gave up and put the saucepan in the fridge for about ten. Julia Child says that a sauce is done when you can "coat a spoon with it" but I say it's done when it's cool enough for me to stick a spoon in and taste it without burning my mouth. To each her own, Julia. In retrospect, I actually would have waited about a half an hour, but whatevs.

Now, you put caramel sauce on the layer of apples, then a layer of apples on top of the caramel sauce, etc. until you are done with your apples. I did it this way, but a better way to do it is to toss the caramel sauce with the apples. This prevents you from pouring too much caramel sauce on and making it too juicy and goopy. Then, cut the 1/2 stick of butter into little pieces and put it on top of the apple pie.

Yummmmm...

You're not done yet! I'm going to teach you how to make a lattice crust.

Step one: roll out the pie crust out pretty thin. In the middle of the circle, cut two long strips. Make a cross on the top of the pie crust.

Then, continue to cut pieces from the inside of the circle, working your way out. If you're really obsessive-compulsive, you can measure out the pieces by the inch. Martha Stewart and Williams-Sonoma actually sell pie crust mats that have measurements on them, but I don't care that much.

Layer them over and under, like you do with basket-weaving in elementary school art class. If you passed Kindergarten art, you can make a lattice crust. I promise.

Just lift those suckers up and continue to layer them over and under.

Now, pies are not as easy as they look or sound, fruit pies especially. I'm actually going to do an entire post on the trials and travails of fruit pies in the near future. Also, pie crusts cook faster than the fruit so they tend to burn. To make the crust brown nicely and deliciously crunchy, you should make a mixture of one egg and a little bit of milk. Take a pastry brush and paint some of the egg mixture all over the crust. (Pastry brushes disappear on a frequent basis in my house. My little brother always finds them and uses them to make weird things with barbecue sauce and meat. You can buy them in the grocery store baking aisle).

Then, sprinkle some sugar on top to make the crust crunchy.

Now, don't you dare throw out those extra pie crust scraps! We're going to make pie crust cookies. The fun never ends. Roll the dough out into a big circle. Put some sugar and cinnamon on top. Then, roll it up into a big long log-like thing.

Then, cut the roll into little slices. These are a great way to use up the extra pie crust and to keep your ravenous family members satisfied when the pie is in the oven.

This is what it looks like right as you put it in the oven, which should be preheated to 350. Important cooking tip #1: ALWAYS put aluminum foil on your baking sheet, no matter what you're cooking. It will make your life 10000 times easier, although it'll make taking pictures with flash nearly impossible. Look at the cookies to the left... yummmm

This is about twenty-five minutes into the baking process. The cookies are done, the pie is half-done.

This deliciousness is the finished product, about 50 mins-1 hour into the baking process. Fruit pies are a bitch. You can tell they're done when the juices are bubbling, but it can sometimes be difficult. As long as the juice is bubbling a lot, you should be good. After you discern whether or not it's done, you have to leave it at room temperature for an hour so the fruit pectin can solidify.

When it's time to eat it, you can put it in the oven for about 5 minutes to warm it up, and serve it with vanilla ice cream. You can thank me later.