Day 72: Peppered Frosting and Potato Chips

Yield: a couple chips
Time (Start to Finish): 3 min

Ingredients:
Kettle potato chips, lightly salted
1 tbsp cream cheese frosting
3 shakes of a pepper shaker

Directions:
1. mix the frosting with the pepper
2. dunk the chips into it and enjoy!

Rating: 2 strawberries
Notes: ok, last day in Portland, tired, hung over. Finals for my dad in the world handball champions, I really wasn’t near a kitchen. It is a tragic thrown together recipe, but I did it nonetheless, and I actually liked the idea, and will use the concept for a future recipe. It was actually much better than I expected, and I used an awesome icing from a cupcake I got at saint cupcakes, which let me tell you RULES as a bakery. I gave it a 2 because it actually tasted great, and I would serve it on a dessert buffet setting, but to really be good, I would prefer to make my own frosting and chips…its sad this is the last thing I made in Portland, and again in ellis’ kitchenette, thanks again dawg. It goes best with a shooting zombies video game and a cold beer..oh, and the pic does no justice, I thought the flakes of pepper would show but instead its just sprinkles.

Day 71: Pumpkin Pecan Filled Croissant

Yield: 1 croissant
Time (Start to Finish): 5 min

Ingredients:
1 croissant
2 tsp pumpkin butter
½ cup candied pecans
1 Tbsp honey

Directions:
1. Cut croissant in half long ways
2. Add the honey to both sides of the roll, you can heat it if you want
3. Add the pumpkin butter to one of the sides
4. Sprinkle on the pecans so they are even throughout the roll
5. Cut in half and serve for breakfast

Rating: 3 strawberries
Notes: you know, this tasted better the more you eat it, but I realized I don’t like pumpkin butter too much. Maybe I need to make my own, but it did taste good with a fresh croissant and nuts and honey, it was so so so so good. Thanks Meghan, and I used my 3rd kitchen on this one, the lovely ellis and his kitchenette. No stove, but a toaster oven, but I thought this was a great thing to throw together before going to a local beer tasting festival, which was wonderful. This is a nice, yet sweet breakfast

Day 70: Butterscotch Blondies

Yield: 1 9x13 inch pan
Time (Start to Finish): 30 min

Ingredients:
1 cup dark or light brown sugar
¾ stick butter

1 egg

1 cup chopped pecans
¾ cup coconut

1 cup flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

1 bag butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish
3. In a bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder
4. In a saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar
5. When its all melted together, remove from heat add the egg and stir
6. Then add the pecans and coconut
7. Add to the dry ingredients, and add the vanilla
8. Spread onto the bottom of the pan, it will be thin. You can make them in a smaller pan to make them thicker
9. Sprinkle on the bag of butterscotch chips and bake in the oven until a knife comes out clean, about 20 min

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: this is also a Meghan idea, and I added the pecans and coconut. She is a smart one, and a fun person to cook with! These were made for 2 reasons. One was it was her new roomies birthday, and also for wayne, a handball friend of my dad’s that asks me every time he sees me where his cookies are. He likes my cooking! He fled Portland before we could give them to him though, but we enjoyed them and so did birthday boy Melvin. I thought they might be too sweet with all the butterscotch chips, but it actually turned out quite well. Its hard to find time to cook when on vacation, let me tell you…but Meghan really helped me out.

Day 69: Homemade Candy Corn

Yield: 30 huge cookie sized candy corns
Time (Start to Finish): 45 min

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
5 Tbsp butter

2 ½ cup powdered sugar (SIFTED)
1/3 cup powdered milk
pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract
7 drops yellow food coloring

2 tsp orange juice
5 drops yellow food coloring
2 drops red food coloring

Directions:
1. You need to work fast with this recipe, and I had an extra set of hands. I say having 1 or 2 other people will make this whole project not only more fun, but less stressful.
2. SIFT the powdered sugar, powdered milk, and salt and put in a bowl
3. In a saucepan, add the sugar, corn syrup and butter
4. Heat on med/ med-high until it reaches a boil, and boil for 4 min, no more! Or it will become too hard
5. Pour into the bowl with the powdered sugar and stir until it becomes a ball.
6. Watch out at this point, it is HOT, keep a cold rag or counters near by to cool your hands
7. Tear the dough into three pieces of different sizes, one for the white, one for yellow and one for orange
8. The smallest piece, with our hands, make a little bowl and pour in the vanilla. Mix with your hands and roll into a log. This is the job for friend #1, and remember, it is HOT
9. With the second largest piece, add the orange juice, 5 yellow drops and 2 red drops to make orange and mix up. Roll into a log as well. This is the job of friend #2
10. With the largest piece add the lemon extract and the yellow coloring, mix and roll into a log. This is job for person #3
11. When its all mixed, make sure to work fast before it hardens, but the logs together and form into a triangle shaped log.
12. With a knife, slice it like you would a log of cookie dough and shape each candy with your hands. They are larger than usual, obviously
13. When they are done, place in a covered container to keep them from getting too hard. Enjoy!

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: So I added the flavoring to make mine different, but you can just add vanilla to all of it to make it taste traditional. The lemon was the best, but the orange didn’t taste like orange. If they feel a little hard when rolling them, you can add a tsp of water to soften it. These were super fun to make, and thanks Meghan for the use of your hands. We both had sensitive skin from the heat afterwards, so seriously, be careful! Meghans favorite candy is candy corn, so I had to make them for her. It was a fun experiment and thanks alley for showing me the basic recipe! There are others that include honey, which would be good, but this was nice and simple. I cooked mine a little too long and they got hard, and they still tasted good, but hard to eat, so try not to overcook it, and happy holidays! October in Portland is pretty freakin awesome…so many colored leaves!

Day 68: Parmesan Thyme Popcorn

Yield: 3 peeps
Time (Start to Finish): 20 min

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup popcorn kernels

¾ cup parmesan cheese (fresh or powdered, finely ground)
½ cup thyme (fresh and destemed)
salt
2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:
1. Melt the butter and set aside, it is for on top. Make sure the cheese is very fine, and the thyme is off the stems
2. Take a pot with a lid, usually a saucepot or a soup pot, but make sure the lid fits tight. You can just pop the popcorn in an air popper, but I like the coconut oil
3. Heat the oil and the popcorn over med-med-high, shaking every few seconds (like 20) until it starts popping, and shake until they are all popped. Takes about 10 min
4. Put the popcorn into another bowl, and pour the butter over it, as well as salt, cheese and thyme. If you pour it into the hot pot, the cheese will fall to the bottom and not stick to the popcorn
5. Mix well, and then serve to friends

Rating: 3 strawberries
Notes: this was cooked in my girl meghans new house! Welcome to Portland Meghan! This is a fun easy thing to make, with so many flavors to add. Thyme and parm is such a great combo. Her new roomies seemed to enjoy the corn, and thanks to them for letting me crash for a few days. They were blocks from the handball tourney. I think you should use a finer chopped cheese than I did, it seemed to clump, but the taste was there. Thyme is underrated, just like the time it took Meghan to pay off her car…which she did on popcorn day! Congrats!

Day 67: Savory Dutch Baby

Yield: 4-5 peeps
Time (Start to Finish): 40-50 min

Ingredients:
¾ cup green onions
½ Tbsp butter
salt and pepper

1 ¼ cup flour
5 eggs
1 ½ cup milk

1 cup cheddar cheese
¼ cup Italian parsley

2 Tbsp butter

Directions:
1. Chop the green onions and cook on a skillet with butter, sald and pepper until they are soft and cooked. Should take about 5 min.
2. Shred the cheddar cheese, and chop up the parsley.
3. Preheat oven to 400F
4. Take a 9 inch cast ion skillet and melt the 2 Tbsp of butter in it.
5. In a blender, blend the flour, eggs and milk until smooth
6. Pour into the cast iron skillet, and then sprinkle on the onions, cheese and parsley. You can add salt and pepper to the flour mixture
7. Bake for about 25 min or until it poofs up, begins to fall, and the edges are browning
8. Serve with bacon and syrup!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: This was my first dish while on my week long vacation in Portland, and a HUGE shout out to Meghan, Sarah, Pete and Baby Drew for helping me out, letting me stay, and showing me this great recipe! They don’t add the savory items, but lemon juice and powdered sugar, so I think their minds were blown with a savory version. My mind was blown because I had never even heard of a dutch baby! What’s great about sprinkling the stuff on top is you get a nice pie like crust on the bottom, which is yummy. Thanks again guys! And your kitchen rocks my socks.
a perfect start to a day filled with bakeries and handball

Day 66: Salami Corn Egg Sammy

Yield: 1 person
Time (Start to Finish): 7 min

Ingredients:
1 egg
¼ cup cream
½ cup corn kernels (fresh is best)
1 slice sourdough toast
4 slices sharp cheddar
4 slices salami
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat a skillet to med-med high heat
2. Toast the bread and add the slices of cheddar right away so they melt a little
3. Add the salami on top of the cheese
4. In a bowl whisk the egg, cream, salt and pepper
5. Add the corn to the egg mixture and cook on the skillet until the egg temp you like. I like mine a little runny
6. Place the corn/egg on top of the salami, add salt and pepper if needed. The corn/egg might fall apart a little, but its ok. That is how it is supposed to be. Enjoy!

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: When in a rush, I tend to skip breakfast. If I have all morning, I tend to make something intense. This egg sammy is the perfect middle ground recipe. You are up early enough to have about 15 min to make food. This sammy I was expecting to not taste so good, and I was also trying to use up things in my kitchen before heading to Portland, but it was actually incredible! So yummy, a great tummy filler, and has all your basic food groups. Try it out and you will see! It was so good, I forgot to pack pants and my picture adapter, which is why I haven’t blogged in a week…blame this awesome sammy, not me!

Day 65: Alfredo with Corn and Ravioli

Yield: 2 servings
Time (Start to Finish): 25 min

Ingredients:
2 small shallots
2 cloves garlic
4 Tbsp butter
¼ cup half and half
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 cob of corn
¼ tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
24 ravioli (I used butternut squash)

Directions:
1. Cook ravioli like you normally do or like the package states, but make sure to lightly salt the water and do not add oil to the water. Oil on noodles coats the pasta and won’t allow the sauce to stick to it. Salting the water seasons the noodles
2. Take the corn off the cob with a knife. You can use canned, but fresh is a million times better
3. In a saucepan, heat the butter with the garlic and shallots that you have chopped into small pieces.
4. When the garlic and shallots are softened, add the half and half until it begins to boil
5. Add the parm cheese, corn, salt and pepper
6. When the parm melts, the sauce is ready!
7. Pour over the ravioli and serve!

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: What I love about this recipe is how quick it is. It took me about 15 min to make the sauce, and it was SO yummy. It’s the perfect thing to cook when you get home from work. I got home late, had to pack for Portland, and this took no time at all and was phenomenal. I had the second part for lunch the next day and it heats up just fine. The fresh corn made the whole meal even better. You can add chicken, or anything really, and put it over any noodles you like. Enjoy it guys! And sorry for the delay on recipes, but I succeeded in cooking every day!

In Portland!!

Hey all, i am in portland until the 12th of october, which is awesome and fun! I have been cooking a lot of great things, candy corn, thyme parm popcorn, dutch babies, so much! the sad news is, i left my picture adapter at home, so i cant upload any photos. I will update it when i get back into San Fran, so look forward to a long list of about 6-10 new recipes then. Meghan is making sure i am cooking every day, and being in new kitchens is fun! see you guys in a week!

Day 64: Crumbly Fall Fruit Bars

Yield: 12 bars
Time (Start to Finish): 35 min

Ingredients:
1 green pear
1 pluot
¾ cup chopped dates

2 cups flour
1 cup oats
¾ cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, cold, chopped in pieces
¼-1/2 cup half and half

¾ cup walnut pieces

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Take the pear, pluot and dates and cut into small bite sized pieces. You can leave the skins on for color
3. In a separate bowl, mix the oats, flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon
4. Add the butter and rub into little pieces with your hands until it resembles corn meal.
5. Add the half and half little by little until the dough is crumbly but sticks together when squeezed in your hand.
6. Take a little over half of the dough and press into the bottom of a casserole dish to make a bottom crust.
7. With the rest of the dough, add the walnut pieces and mix it up with your hand until crumbly
8. Take the fruit and dump it on top of the crust and spread out evenly
9. Add the oat/nut mixture on top by crumbling it and then pressing it down a little. You can leave some fruit showing through
10. Bake for 15-20 min or until begins to brown

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: Well, I had left over dates in the house, and a pluot, and all these oats and stuff, so I thought why not make some wonderful oaty date bars! They ended up ok, but kind of crumbly, I say make sure the bottom crust is very pushed down. These are a great breakfast snack, and even better packing in a bag to take to a music festival. I wished I had them when I was watching steve martin play the banjo today!! Enjoy these with ice cream, but the seemed more like a fruity crisp than a bar…that is why I gave them a low score. I might even cook the fruit on the stove a little to make more of a sauce next time instead of pieces of fruit. I did just think the fruit was a perfect ripe so I wanted to taste it. My mistake. Anyways, the wind is making me sleepy, so maybe a bar and a glass of water for bed.

Day 63: Bacon Onion Goat Cheese Scones

Yield: 8 small scones
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
½ med yellow onion
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper

3 strips bacon

1 cup flour
1/8 cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
½ stick butter, cold and in pieces
1/3 cup half and half

¼ cup goat cheese

splash of milk or egg wash

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Again with the caramelizing onions, it is important to be patient and trust that the time it takes to make them is worth it in the final product.
3. In a frying pan, put the onion, chopped into small pieces, butter, salt and pepper.
4. Cook for about half an hour until they are a caramelly brown. Keep stirring them, and then set aside.
5. Cook the 3 strips of bacon in the same frying pan until they are cooked through. You can cook the bacon however you like as long as it is cooked through! Then cut it into little pieces so they can be evenly distributed in the scones.
6. In a bowl, put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix up.
7. Add the cold butter and rub the butter into the flour with your hands. You want it to resemble corn meal, and you don’t want to heat the butter up, you want it to stay in small pieces, so mix fast with your hands.
8. Add the milk and mix with hands until it is about to come together. Then throw in the bacon, onions, and goat cheese torn into med size pieces, about the size of the tip of your pinky finger.
9. Mix until it comes into a ball and bacon onion and cheese is even, and flatten into a disk about an inch high.
10. In a separate bowl, put the milk, or the egg wash, which is 1 egg with a dash of cream. With your finger, rub it on top to make it shine after baking. There will be a lot left over if you use the egg wash, so you can just use a little milk if you want.
11. Cut into 8 slices and place on a baking sheet with them each having some elbow room
12. Bake for 15-20 min or until they just begin to brown on the bottoms. Its best to serve them warm.

Rating: 5 strawberries
Notes: These fresh out of the oven is the most amazing thing you will ever eat…this is another 5!!!!! They are perfect! They cook great, they are sweet enough, the onions again make the scones, and the bacon makes you feel like you are getting a full breakfast in one bite! The goat cheese is a great addition, but feel free to add cheddar or another cheese. Some people add green onions, but I feel caramelizing them is what makes them great. I ate 2 right away and then gave some away to people who only agreed they were great. Travis at work almost instantly asked for the recipe so he could make them for his trip to Yosemite. How flattering!! You simply must try these, and im telling you, they are a great start to the morning.

Day 62: Cheeseburgers

Yield: 3 burgers
Time (Start to Finish): 45min- 1 hr.

Ingredients:
1 med onion, yellow
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper

1 pound ground beef

1 med tomato
1 med avocado
6 slices asiago cheese
spinach

3 brioche buns

condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo)

Directions:
1. Patience when caramelizing onions…it will be worth it every time. Take it slow. It will take about half an hour.
2. Chop onions into bite size pieces or as small as you can. You will be mixing them into the burger meat.
3. In a skillet pan on med heat, put the onion, butter, salt and pepper and cook until the onions are golden colored. That is where the flavor is!
4. In a bowl, mix the burger meat with the onions, salt and pepper.
5. Make into 3 burgers and cook how you like…on a grill, or a frying pan. I cooked mine on a frying pan over med until they were med well. Took about 3 minutes per side.
6. When they are done, set them aside and cut the buns in half.
7. Toast both sides of the bun on the pan/grill and then add the cheese to the bun
8. Take the tomato and slice it. Take the avocado and smash it in a bowl.
9. Add the avocado to one side of the bun, a slice of tomato, spinach and any condiments you like. I like ketchup. Enjoy!

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: Yet again caramelized onions change a basic meal into an incredible one. Lucy and I made burgers and the onions just made the dish. Also, the avocado rocked the house. This is a take on the Del’s burger down in San Diego. My mom just went down there and she told me about this burger and I had to have it! The only problem was I learned that burgers shrink when you cook them, so they were a lot smaller than the buns. Next time I would flatten them down much more than I did and make them a little bigger than the buns. Other than that, yet another great meal…and its one of my first meat dishes in this blog! As you guys know I don’t normally cook as much as I bake, so it was a nice little challenge. Ill try to do more things like this in the future.

Month 2

Annie’s Current Weight: 131
Pleasures: This month has been a good one. I feel like I have for sure hit autopilot on this…I say this now and I know I will forget one day…I have had a LOT of people cooking my food, which is amazing! I have had my risotto, cheesecake, beet salad, croutons, and brie puff made, and those are just the ones I know about!! How cool is that?? I have also had the challenge of losing my journal for a bit, and going out of town for a day, but I know I worked though it all. It had been a month of hard recipes, and a lot of small things. It has been really fun, and I am amazed I haven’t gained a pound! I have spread the word quite a bit about my blog, and a lot of people nation wide are getting interested, showing their friends, and this networking thing is really taking off. I also saw the movie Julie/Julia which both inspired me and made me focus my thoughts. It has been a month I am proud of.
Pains: I didn’t really do a lot of the things I said I was going to in the last month. I didn’t do any week challenges, and I didn’t really push myself creatively. I know I was VERY creative, but I was very much on autopilot, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. I think I need to push this creativity. I know I’m cool, guys, but I can be so much cooler! This is a great project, but I know it can be even better, and the fact that I know that makes me obligated to perform for you. Maybe that month was important for me to remember that I need to work even harder, and I didn’t really even do a lot of things out of my comfort zone..no real meat things, but, ill try harder!
Promises: I promise to really push my limits this time now. I have a great challenge coming up. Im going to Portland for a week, so I need to be at the mercy of friends and their kitchens to cook who knows what. I don’t know what will be in their fridges, or let alone their pots and pans situation! That will be a great challenge, plus im going to try to do a themed week this month..a color theme perhaps like I thought I was going to do last week? Im also going to try to make less sweet things, but we will see…I have been eating a lot of sugar lately. I also promise to get as many of my ingredients from farmers markets as I can… I have been, but ill keep it up. I also hope to have more people come over and cook. I love my roomie eaters, but some variety would be nice.
Ponders: Well, this month had a lot of pondering. I wrote and posted a blurb on seeing the movie Julie/Julia that I had a lot of thoughts about, and I have been excited to report the use of friends kitchens this month around, which was cool. I have really been enjoying this, and having a lot of fun with it, and I don’t see slowing down happening anytime soon. I still have a huge list of possible recipes, and I can’t believe how fast 2 months has flown by. Yes I feel this project has put a slight strain on hanging out with people, but, its ok, its only for 10 more months, and people can always come hang and cook. I have eaten a lot of sugar this month, and have yet to really mess up a recipe…maybe im playing too safe? Maybe I need to challenge more? Or maybe I just rock at cooking..haha. Thank everyone for reading and keeping tabs on me, it has been a great time, and please, call, email, or text if you cook something I make, have ideas, or want to come make some grub with me. I could never do this project without the support of those food lovers around me. Travis and Maggie…your daily eating will be missed…

Day 61: Almond Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

Yield: 12 dates
Time (Start to Finish): 30 min

Ingredients:
12 dates
12 almonds
¼ cup goat cheese
4-5 strips bacon
Balsamic vinegar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Take the pit out of the dates while keeping them whole and intact
3. With your hand, put a little bit of goat cheese (soft) into each date, about half of a tsp.
4. Then put a whole almond in the date. Make sure to use the largest almonds you have
5. Finish it off with more goat cheese and make sure they are as stuffed as you can get them
6. Wrap each date in bacon. Not a whole piece, but enough to circle the date once. You don’t need to cover the opening, but if you can, it will help hold in the cheese.
7. Place on a non stick baking sheet and bake 15-20 min or until the bacon is cooked. Try to use meaty bacon more than fatty or it will just melt away.
8. Serve with a splash of balsamic vinegar on each date.

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: I first found a similar recipe while working at Barmarché as a hostess/waitress and they had almond stuffed dates on the menu. Shout out to my girls from there! I added the goat cheese and the vinegar, but I could eat SO many of these!! I would improve them by making a balsamic vinegar reduction and putting it on top more than it fresh from the bottle. They are good fresh out of the oven, or cold too! This recipe serves about 3 people, and is really a killer appetizer. Serve at any party and you will make everyone happy. You can put different cheeses too! So fun to make, and quick after a long day at work and before hitting up the movie Fame with my gaggle of girls. Also a good snack to come home too late at night.