Ramen Noodles don't have to be boring and should never be served plain. Look at your standard package of Ramen Noodles as a blank canvas primed and ready to be turned into a masterpiece! I recently came up with a great way to serve Ramen by adding a little Asian pep to what could otherwise be a boring reminder that other, better food is either too far away or simply out of your price range.
You'll need:
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 tsp. Sesame Oil
1 Chicken Ramen Noodle package
4 precooked Asian style dumplings/pot stickers
1/2 cup Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Soy Sauce
Sriracha Sauce
1) Start by adding a pinch of Salt and some coarsely cracked Pepper to your water as it warms up, then add the Sesame Oil as it comes to a boil and drop in your noodle brick.
2) Let the noodles boil for about a minute, then drop in the 4 Asian style dumplings/pot stickers and Frozen Mixed Vegetables. Cover the pot for the remainder of the cook time.
3) Transfer the noodles and dumplings to a bowl and add a splash of Soy Sauce and a nickle sized amount of Sriracha Sauce and stir until fully incorporated.
It's amazing what a few simple ingredients can do to make boring food POP! Don't worry about the soup being too hot to eat, the Sriracha Sauce is added to warm the taste of the food; but there's nothing wrong with adding more!
Happy Eating, Guys!
-M.E.B.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Basic Vanilla Cake!
This recipe is for plain vanilla cake batter. Preparation time shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes; this includes gathering and prepping the ingredients. The cooking times vary depending on what you're baking in. I'll be updating this particular post with baking times for different types of cake pans. This recipe has the baking time for a standard Bundt pan.
2 sticks of unsalted butter or 1 Crisco Baking Stick(butter flavored)
(if using Crisco Baking Stick, add 2 Tbsp. of warm water)
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
*optional, 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips or frozen fruit or berries.
*Preheat oven to 325° and spray your pan with PAM for Baking.
1) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until you reach a light and fluffy consistency(if using butter stick, cream butter stick and warm water first). Add the eggs one at a time.
2) While the mixer is creaming the butter, sugar, and eggs, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3) Add the flour mixture and then the buttermilk in that order in 3 additions until all the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl in between adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk. *Fold in the chocolate chips or frozen fruit with the spatula.
4) Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for about 70 minutes or until the top of the cake is a light golden brown. Use a toothpick or wooden squeaker to check and see if the cake is cooked all the way through.
5) Let the cake cool to room temperature for no less than 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan. Place a cake plate on of the Bundt pan, take a few deep breaths, then flip the pan onto the cake plate.
Your finished product should look like this:
This cake, though time consuming and incredibly massive, is perfect for social events when you want a dessert that is delicious, and filling. It's good plain, or served in a bowl of milk.
Best of luck, and as always, HAPPY EATING!
-M.E.B.
2 sticks of unsalted butter or 1 Crisco Baking Stick(butter flavored)
(if using Crisco Baking Stick, add 2 Tbsp. of warm water)
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
*optional, 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips or frozen fruit or berries.
*Preheat oven to 325° and spray your pan with PAM for Baking.
1) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until you reach a light and fluffy consistency(if using butter stick, cream butter stick and warm water first). Add the eggs one at a time.
2) While the mixer is creaming the butter, sugar, and eggs, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3) Add the flour mixture and then the buttermilk in that order in 3 additions until all the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl in between adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk. *Fold in the chocolate chips or frozen fruit with the spatula.
4) Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for about 70 minutes or until the top of the cake is a light golden brown. Use a toothpick or wooden squeaker to check and see if the cake is cooked all the way through.
5) Let the cake cool to room temperature for no less than 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan. Place a cake plate on of the Bundt pan, take a few deep breaths, then flip the pan onto the cake plate.
Your finished product should look like this:
This cake, though time consuming and incredibly massive, is perfect for social events when you want a dessert that is delicious, and filling. It's good plain, or served in a bowl of milk.
Best of luck, and as always, HAPPY EATING!
-M.E.B.
Baking!
Baking is probably one of the most rewarding and satisfying kitchen activities. I like to make things from scratch, I believe that it is not really baking unless you started from scratch. Using boxed cake and batter mixes takes the magic out of your time in the kitchen, leaving you with something overly sweetened and usually containing one or more artificial ingredients that you probably don't want floating around your system. It truly is more rewarding and magical to turn a handful of raw ingredients into something delicious.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for crappy food and ingredients if you're buying from a bakery counter or eating out at a restaurant. If you're making something at home, you get the luxury of knowing and picking what goes into your baked goods. I've got a few great tips, tricks, and blatant product placement you can use while baking that will help you achieve success and make baking easier.
Crisco Baking Sticks instead of real butter.
Most baking recipes call for two sticks(one cup) of unsalted butter; which is great, but from extensive experience, I can honestly say that my baked goods came out better when I used Crisco Baking Sticks instead of butter. There are several advantages to using Crisco in place of real butter. When baking with butter, it is imperative that it be room temperature. Normally, what happens when you get home from the store is you take the sticks of butter you bought and you put them in your fridge or freezer. Frozen or cold butter is very hard to work with and doesn't mix well with the other ingredients. Crisco Baking Sticks do not require refrigeration and are ready to use right out of the package! All you need to do is add 2 Tbsp. of water for every 1 Crisco Baking Stick.
Another advantage to using Crisco Baking Sticks instead of butter is greasing and flouring pans. Butter wrappers have some residual butter left of the wrapper, but not enough to coat a pan. Crisco wrappers have tons of left over sticky bits to rub into every knock and cranny of the pan saving you a step and preventing wasted ingredients!
There are some things, like crumb topping for example, that I recommend using real butter for. Anything where butter is you're main wet ingredient or provider of moisture should be made old school using real, unsalted, room temperature butter.
For those of you who aren't super into using Crisco to coat your pans, I suggest using PAM for Baking. This product combines all the amazing non-stick magic of regular PAM and flour to reach every last inch of even the most intricate bake ware like the infamous Bundt pan. PAM+flour=perfectly dislodged baked goods!
Let's talk about eggs. Eggs are required for most baked recipes to help bind all the ingredients together during the baking process. Earlier, I mentioned that if you're using butter, that the butter be room temperature, the same rules apply for eggs. Working with cold eggs slows down the baking process because it chills whatever you put it in and then it takes longer for the batter to come to room temperature and for the ovens magical ability to transform gooey batter into cake. You'll find that your finished product will be lighter and fluffier if the eggs you're working with are room temperature. It's best to take the eggs out of the fridge a few hours before you begin mixing all of your ingredients, but if you don't have that kind of time or simply forgot, have no fear, there's a fix for that. Take a bowl of slightly warm water, bordering on hot, but not hot enough to cook the eggs, and place the eggs in the bowl and wait for the water to come back to room temperature.
I hope this post helps you achieve more success in baking and satisfies your sweet tooth.
HAPPY EATING!
-M.E.B.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Buttermilk!
I'm sure that you've come across recipes that call for buttermilk and have thought to yourself, "Damn it! I don't want to have to make a trip to the store to buy buttermilk!!!"** It probably wasn't that corny or scripted, but it's a common thought shared by many bakers and cooks.
Buttermilk originally was the liquid left after churning butter our of cream. It's pretty much just slightly fermented milk. Buttermilk has a higher viscosity than plain milk(meaning that it sticks to the side of the glass more). Buttermilk has a bit of a tart or sour taste compared to milk due to the higher levels of lactic acid. Lactic acid is a byproduct of fermented lactose, which is the primary sugar found in milk.
One of the drawbacks to going out and buying buttermilk is how much of it gets wasted if you don't actually drink buttermilk or have other uses for it. Most recipes call for about a cup, and the rest is either left to rot in the fridge or poured down the drain. During the course of my work in the kitchen, and doing some crafty cost saving research on the internet, I have found a way to reduce cost, time, and eliminate waste when working with buttermilk.
Making buttermilk is quite simple and takes about 5 minutes; 4 of those minutes are waiting. All you need is milk and vinegar or lemon juice. The formula is easy to remember, for every cup of milk, just add a table spoon of vinegar or lemon juice, stir, and wait about four or five minutes. You'll notice that the milk has thickened slightly, and will have just the slightest bit of a sour taste and smell. You'll know you've got buttermilk when you give the liquid a gentle stir and it puts a think coat on the side of the glass. Viola, buttermilk!
**Now, let's look at the big picture. I mentioned earlier how making buttermilk at home reduces cost and saves time. Think of it this way; if you were going out to buy buttermilk, you'd have to start your car, drive to the store, dig through the entire dairy case looking for a product you're unfamiliar with, check out, drive home, and pour what you need out of the container. Then, as previously mentioned, the rest of the container will most likely sit in your fridge and be forgotten about. What a waste of your valuable cooking time and gas money.
Buttermilk originally was the liquid left after churning butter our of cream. It's pretty much just slightly fermented milk. Buttermilk has a higher viscosity than plain milk(meaning that it sticks to the side of the glass more). Buttermilk has a bit of a tart or sour taste compared to milk due to the higher levels of lactic acid. Lactic acid is a byproduct of fermented lactose, which is the primary sugar found in milk.
One of the drawbacks to going out and buying buttermilk is how much of it gets wasted if you don't actually drink buttermilk or have other uses for it. Most recipes call for about a cup, and the rest is either left to rot in the fridge or poured down the drain. During the course of my work in the kitchen, and doing some crafty cost saving research on the internet, I have found a way to reduce cost, time, and eliminate waste when working with buttermilk.
Making buttermilk is quite simple and takes about 5 minutes; 4 of those minutes are waiting. All you need is milk and vinegar or lemon juice. The formula is easy to remember, for every cup of milk, just add a table spoon of vinegar or lemon juice, stir, and wait about four or five minutes. You'll notice that the milk has thickened slightly, and will have just the slightest bit of a sour taste and smell. You'll know you've got buttermilk when you give the liquid a gentle stir and it puts a think coat on the side of the glass. Viola, buttermilk!
**Now, let's look at the big picture. I mentioned earlier how making buttermilk at home reduces cost and saves time. Think of it this way; if you were going out to buy buttermilk, you'd have to start your car, drive to the store, dig through the entire dairy case looking for a product you're unfamiliar with, check out, drive home, and pour what you need out of the container. Then, as previously mentioned, the rest of the container will most likely sit in your fridge and be forgotten about. What a waste of your valuable cooking time and gas money.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Teriyaki Veggie Tacos!
Nothing is quite as cumbersome as preparing a decent lunch, here is a recipe for a quick lunch using odds and ends found in your fridge!
Here's the recipe.
3 flour tortilla shells
whipped cream cheese
1 box of Green Giant frozen microwavable teriyaki vegetables.
Follow microwave instructions on the box of frozen vegetables while you prepare the tortillas.
Put a thin layer of whipped cream cheese on each of the 3 tortilla shells and place a third of the vegetables on each tortilla. Microwave the tacos open faced for 10 seconds to warm the tortilla and roll them into tacos.
Give yourself a pat on the back and make your way to a table so you can enjoy the delicious and easy lunch you've just prepared for yourself!
Happy Eating!
-M.E.B.
Here's the recipe.
3 flour tortilla shells
whipped cream cheese
1 box of Green Giant frozen microwavable teriyaki vegetables.
Follow microwave instructions on the box of frozen vegetables while you prepare the tortillas.
Put a thin layer of whipped cream cheese on each of the 3 tortilla shells and place a third of the vegetables on each tortilla. Microwave the tacos open faced for 10 seconds to warm the tortilla and roll them into tacos.
Give yourself a pat on the back and make your way to a table so you can enjoy the delicious and easy lunch you've just prepared for yourself!
Happy Eating!
-M.E.B.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Fiesta Cornbread Surprise!
Recently, I was daydreaming about food, as I often do, and came up with the idea of baking something delicious into the center of a cornbread muffin. I decided to try and bake chili and cheese into the center of a cornbread muffin. I was extremely nervous when I made them the first time because I feared that they would be a complete disaster and I would have dirtied a pan and not been able to eat anything out of it.
Much to my surprise and delight, the cornbread muffins came out perfectly! I was so please that the cornbread had baked perfectly around the cheesy-chili center.
Here is the recipe.
2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
2 eggs
(2)1/3 cups milk
(2)generous tablespoons of whole fat sour cream
2 cups Chili(homemade/can)
Shredded Cheese
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, grease and flour your muffin pan with olive oil and a light sprinkling of flour.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk one egg, 1/3 cup of milk, and a generous table spoon of sour cream together in a mixing bowl until all the ingredients are a homogeneous liquid. Add the cornbread mix a little at a time to wet ingredients and whisk them together so that it forms a smooth batter. Let the batter sit for a few minutes, stir again, and then pour it evenly in muffin tin.
Put a generous tablespoon of chili in the center of the batter and cover it with shredded cheese. Take care to not let the chili or the cheese touch the sides of the muffin pan. You don't want anyone seeing the filling because it will ruin the surprise!
To cut down on the number of items you have to wash, make the second box of cornbread mix in the same bowl as the first and pour it evenly over the chili and cheese. Slide the pan back and forth to level out the batter and then give the pan a few hearty slam on the countertop to eliminate bubbles(the cornbread will rise by itself, no worries).
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Use a knife and go around the edges of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. Take a cookie sheet and place it on top of the muffins and flip the pan over to get the muffins out.
Put them on a plate, slice them in half, and SURPRISE! Chili and cheese in a delicious cornbread shell.
Happy Eating!
-M.E.B.
Much to my surprise and delight, the cornbread muffins came out perfectly! I was so please that the cornbread had baked perfectly around the cheesy-chili center.
Here is the recipe.
2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
2 eggs
(2)1/3 cups milk
(2)generous tablespoons of whole fat sour cream
2 cups Chili(homemade/can)
Shredded Cheese
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, grease and flour your muffin pan with olive oil and a light sprinkling of flour.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk one egg, 1/3 cup of milk, and a generous table spoon of sour cream together in a mixing bowl until all the ingredients are a homogeneous liquid. Add the cornbread mix a little at a time to wet ingredients and whisk them together so that it forms a smooth batter. Let the batter sit for a few minutes, stir again, and then pour it evenly in muffin tin.
Put a generous tablespoon of chili in the center of the batter and cover it with shredded cheese. Take care to not let the chili or the cheese touch the sides of the muffin pan. You don't want anyone seeing the filling because it will ruin the surprise!
To cut down on the number of items you have to wash, make the second box of cornbread mix in the same bowl as the first and pour it evenly over the chili and cheese. Slide the pan back and forth to level out the batter and then give the pan a few hearty slam on the countertop to eliminate bubbles(the cornbread will rise by itself, no worries).
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Use a knife and go around the edges of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. Take a cookie sheet and place it on top of the muffins and flip the pan over to get the muffins out.
Put them on a plate, slice them in half, and SURPRISE! Chili and cheese in a delicious cornbread shell.
 |
| Hot damn! The wife made cornbread! |
 |
| Those look delicious! |
 |
| SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!! OLE. |
-M.E.B.
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