So the other day I asked some non-food blogging friends what they would enjoy seeing on my blog. One of them said a Lemon Meringue Pie. I hadn't made one in a long time so that sounded good. I then remebered when I made Triple Chocolate Cookies that the cookbook(the Pastry Queen) had the most cool looking lemon-lime meringue tarts on the front cover. So off I went to make them. Little did I know it would suck away an entire day. Oh my...and I still haven't cleaned the kitchen! What intrigued me most about these were the fact that the meringue was everywhere. They call them Texas Big Hairs because they resemble the big hair do's that the love so much in Texas. Now, mine did not turn out nearly as good as theirs, but I did not use as much meringue either. I mean I like meringue but this was over kill. It is fun making them since you have to play with the meringue with your hands(fingers). Mine were pretty tart because I chose to make mine with key limes instead of regular limes because … [Read more...]
Humble Pie
You probably have a friend. A great friend. One who can't find a boyfriend/girlfriend to save their life. The one that you try and set up all the time. They don't really have “luck” with the opposite sex because maybe they are shy or a little homely. But when people get to know them they love them. Sadly no one really ever gets to know them. Clafouti's are the “unlucky at love” friend of the culinary world. Plain, not really sweet, not pretty and totally absent of the “WOW” factor. You can never find their good side to photograph, I know I tried all afternoon with little luck. But if people took the time to know the clafouti, like the friend you love so dearly, you too would fall in love with it. I rarely serve them for dessert I will admit. Since they are very oven pancake like they are wonderful with brunch. It is so versatile, working with pretty much any fruit you can throw it's way. I chose apples and dried cherries since I had leftover from … [Read more...]
Not so Summer salad
Ah, Summer. Heat. Bugs. Sweat rolling down my knees. Beautiful bright red tomotoes...I'm allergic to raw ones. Beautiful bright blue blueberries...I'm allergic to raw ones. Endless peppers and onions....I'm allergic to raw ones. It does produce many other nice foods that I can indeed eat but.... Needless to say I am not a huge fan of Summer. I play an indoor sport(ice hockey), I watch an indoor sport(ice hockey), we don't own a BBQ(because we live in an apartment) and there is no real pourch for us to linger on. The last time I went barefoot in the grass I was bitten by some giant ant. So Summer is a un-needed season for me. It used to be extrememly important when I was a teacher, but since that is not the case anymore, I would like to fast forward to the Fall please. So when I saw the Summer Salad Recipe Event over at My Life as a Reluctant Housewife I started going through my cookbooks. All the truly pretty salads had vivid red tomatoes in them and this just made me sad. I kept … [Read more...]
Chocolate Hybrid
Since I made something that my husband wouldn't eat(peaches-n-cream) I had to find something to make him so that he would be happy too. I pulled out my the Pastry Queen cookbook since there was chocolate cookie recipe that was interesting to me since it used hardly any flour. Though it says it is a cookie, which it is, it really is more of a hybrid of a cookie and a brownie and let me just say....well done. I did deviate slightly from the recipe. We only had walnuts so I used 1 1/2 cups of those and used 1/2 cup of flour instead of 1/3 cup. I also substituted semisweet for the bittersweet and I chose to use the milk chocolate chips. These babies are extreme chocolate overload but well worth your 30 minutes on the treadmill. Triple-Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup chopped pecans 1 cup chopped walnuts 6 TBSP unsalted butter 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped 3 large eggs 1 cup sugar 1 TBSP … [Read more...]
