Some failures, I post about here (like how I failed and then succeed at making my own pasta).   Other failures make me sad and so I just pretend they never happened and don’t post about them.  I failed at making naan (twice) and never posted here about it because it was just so sad.

Today, I managed to make naan that tasted like naan, had the texture of naan, and looked like naan.  Hooray!  For those that don’t know, naan is delicious Indian flat bread that is often served with curries or other dishes.  It’s delicious.  The first time I tried to make it, I ended up with weird puffy dry bread.  It was not good and it was not naan.  The second time I tried to make it, I ended up with flat little crisps of bread.  Also not good, and also not naan.

This time, I made naan that actually resembled naan.  It was good, too!  The trick is to not bake the naan.  I don’t know how tandoori ovens work, but my regular oven does not work the same.

Recipe (adapted from here):

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup warm water

2-1/2 tsp yeast

4 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt

5 tbsp olive oil

Active time: 45 minutes

Inactive time: 2 hours

Servings: Makes 16 small naan or 8 large naan

Cooking Instructions:

Add the yeast to the warm water and stir until dissolved.  Set aside.  Add all the other ingredients together and begin to mix them together.  Add the yeast mixture and mix the ingredients until they are all combined.  Add more milk if the dough is not soft or coming together.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it is soft and smooth.  Place in a large bowl and cover.  Let rise for 1.5-2 hours or until it has at least doubled in size.  Knock the dough back and divide it into 8 or 16 even portions (they do not have to be round).   Allow to rest again for 1/2 – 1 hour.

Roll out on of the portions into a teardrop shape.  Roll from the center and do not roll back and forth.  Start in the middle and just roll one way.  Roll it thinner than you think you should.    Heat a cast iron pan over high heat or (if you have an electric stove) heat a burner to medium heat.  Brush one side of the rolled out naan with water and place either directly on the burner or on the cast iron pan.  It should cook for about 30-45 seconds on one side and begin to brown.  Flip it over and cook it on the other side.  If it is cooking to quickly, turn down the heat.   If the center is not cooked all the way, try rolling the dough out thinner or turning down the heat. Once both sides are cooked, remove from heat and begin the next one

Brush with a little bit of butter and enjoy with some delicious Indian food!

It took me a long time, but I finally did it.  I made my own pasta.

Being a vegetarian in college, pasta was pretty much all I ate.  I had mac and cheese far too often and when it wasn’t mac and cheese, it was some frozen pasta meal.  I first discovered fresh pasta when I was in Atlanta and I went to this amazing little place called Figo.  The simplest dishes were amazing because of the pasta.  When I started food blogging, I thought it’d be cool to make pasta.  The first attempt epic failed as I explained here.  This means that I can explain all the things to NOT do when making fresh pasta.  That way you have a better chance of getting it right on the first try!

When perusing for a fresh pasta recipe, I found a lot that required special ingredients.  I don’t like that.  I always try to make my recipes with easy to find ingredients or explain where people can get the ingredients I use.  Tipo 00 flour is not something most people have, so why use it if you want people to make your recipes?  And now, without further ado, “Fresh Pasta – Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love All-Purpose Flour.”

Recipe (found initially at Food Network):

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 lb all-purpose flour (Weigh this out using a scale.  Cheap ones can be bought at wal-mart or target)

4 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tbsp water

1/2 tsp salt

Active Time: 30 minutes

Inactive Time: 1.5 hours

Servings: 8 servings

Cooking Instructions:

First off, don’t try to change up the recipe on your first try.  I tried to add some whole-wheat flour. That did not work at all.  Really really bad.

Make sure you have a lot of room.  You’ll need a clean surface that is about 18″x18″ at least.  Place the flour on the surface and make a huge hole in the middle.  It should be like a 1.5″ ring of flour with an 8″ hole in the middle.  I made my well too small and everything spilled out the first time.  It was baaaad.  Err on the side of too big than too small.

Add everything else to the flour well.  Begin to mix everything together with a fork.  Very carefully begin adding in the flour.  Don’t break the edges of the well or everything will spill out and get all over the counter and the floor and your pants.  I did that too, it was bad too.  Once the mixture begins to solidify, you can break the edges to mix all the flour in.  Begin to mix with your hands when you can’t use the fork any more.  Add more water if you have too much trouble mixing, add more flour if the dough isn’t coming together.

Once all the ingredients are mixed begin to knead.  I link this video every time I say “knead” and I’m going to link it here again.  This is a very useful tutorial on kneading.  The pasta dough is going to be a little tougher than the dough in the video, but the technique is still the same.  Once the dough is elastic and smooth, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour.  Don’t try to do this fast and skip the resting.  I did that too…it made the pasta have a really weird texture.

Divide the dough into 4 parts.  Roll one part out using a pasta machine or a rolling pin until it is about 1 mm thick (very thin).  If you roll much thinner, the pasta will start ripping and that’s unpleasant when you worked so hard (yes, I did this too).  Sprinkle the rolled out pasta with a little flour so the pasta doesn’t stick together.  Then use a pizza cutter or a pasta cutter, cut the pasta into strips that are about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick.  Hang the pasta to dry over the back of a chair or anywhere safe and out of the way.  Repeat this with all the other parts.

Cook the pasta as you would normal pasta.  To save, roll about 1 serving of the pasta around your hand and freeze.   Cook this pasta as you would for normal pasta as well.

Enjoy and don’t be afraid to go for second helpings!

I love plums.  They are my second favorite food (because whose favorite food isn’t mac and cheese?).  When I saw them in the store for the first time this year, I freaked out.  There weren’t very many and they were way overpriced because it’s not quite plum season yet, but I bought some anyway.  Generally I feel like modifying food is not the best idea, but if I could have plums year round, I’d look the other way.

Driving home from the store, I came up with a brilliant idea: plum margaritas!  Why not combine an awesome alcoholic drink with an awesome fruit?  It was delicious.  I’m going to have to buy extra plums now so I can make this drink all the time.  Now, I know places that aren’t Phoenix are still cold, but margaritas are delicious year round so don’t let the cold stop you from trying this.

Recipe:

Printable Version

Ingredients:

2 plums

1 lime

2 shots tequila

1 shot triple sec (orange liquor)

salt or sugar

ice

Prep time: 15 minutes

Servings: 2 margaritas

Cooking Instructions:

Cut three slices out of one of the plums.  Remove the pit from the remaining plums and cut off the skin (don’t worry about leaving a little of the flesh on the skin because you can eat that later and it’s still delicious).  Cut the lime in half and juice both halves.  In a blender, combine the plums, lime juice, tequila, and triple sec.  Blend until liquid.  Pour salt or sugar on a plate. Run one of the plum skin pieces around the rim of a margarita or martini glass to moisten it.  Dip the wet rim into the salt or sugar to coat.  Add a few ice cubes to the glass.  Pour the plum liquid into the glass.  Garnish with the plum slices.  Enjoy immediately while imagining you’re on a warm beach!

I’ve recently become obsessed with eggs.  I have no idea why.  I’ve never been a huge fan of eggs, but recently I can’t get enough of them.  Maybe this is my body telling me I need more protein than I get with my typical vegetarian diet.  Either way, I have gotten rather adventurous with eggs.  My favorite thing so far is eggs baked into bread.  I love that this has a lot of protein and it’s SUPER delicious.

I first saw this using demi baguettes, but the baguettes got too hard for my taste when they were baked for so long.  I spent about a week experimenting before I realized the perfect bread to use: bagels!  They are already awesome breakfast food AND they are practically made to be toasted.  It was a brilliant match.

There was just one problem.  How was I ever going to have this awesome creation for breakfast?  I am not a morning person.  Like, at all.  I’m just mean and grouchy before the clock has double digits on it.  Unfortunately I’m a school photographer which means getting up when I’d like to be going to bed and getting to a school when it’s still dark out.  It’s lame, but it’s a job.  Anyway, I try to make my morning routine as short as possible, and I didn’t think baking an egg into a bagel wasn’t going to work out.

Today, I will show you how you can have this awesome and delicious creation for breakfast without getting up any earlier.

T-40 minutes: Wake up. No more snoozing, you gotta get going.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine eggs, milk, and whatever else you want.  Cut bagel and pour in egg mixture. (You can mix all the ingredients together the night before if you want to wake up even later.)

T-38 minutes: Brush teeth (you know morning breath sucks).  Wash face and/or do whatever you normally have to do to get ready.  Maybe get the coffee going.

T-34 minutes: Buzzer goes off indicating your oven is preheated.  Put the bagel on a cooking sheet and place in oven.

T-35 minutes: Continue doing what you have to do to get ready for work.  You know, find socks, brush your hair, etc.

T-5 minutes: Panic!  What did you forget to do?  Go do it now!  Did you remember deodorant?  Are you dressed or still in PJs?  No matter, grab the bagel from the oven AND TURN THE OVEN OFF!

T-0 minutes: Run out the door and go to work.  Eat awesome bagel and egg creation on the way.  It’ll make traffic more bearable, I promise.

See?  Isn’t that easy and you don’t have to get up any earlier than you normally would.  It’s surprising, I know, but I’ve done it.  If I, the most anti-morning person you will ever meet, can get up and have a delicious breakfast you can too.

Recipe:

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 bagel, any variety

1 egg

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

about 3 baby bella mushrooms

2 tbsp nonfat milk

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 1 awesome breakfast bagel

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly beat the egg with a fork.  Add the milk and cheese and mix again.  Slice a ring out of a bagel.  Pull out a little bit of the bread inside.  Pour the egg mixture in with a spoon.  Pour until the egg mixture stops sinking in (you will have some egg mixture left over). Slice the mushrooms and add them to the inside of the bagel.  Place the bagel on a cooking sheet and place in the  preheated oven.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until the egg is nice an puffy and the inside is cooked (you can test by cutting the bagel a small amount).  Devour immediately while running out the door because you’re off to work!

Valentine’s Day is coming up!  Lots of people celebrate by going out to a fancy dinner, but some people prefer to celebrate by making something special for their loved ones.  If you’re looking for a fun idea that will make anyone happy, look no further.   I present to you, heart-shaped sushi.  It’s actually not that difficult, especially if you already know how to make sushi.  If you don’t, I have already created a post that has a bunch of links to videos and articles as well as helpful tips from my own experiences.  You can find it right here.  Making sushi is fairly simple, so don’t be afraid if you haven’t tried it yet.

The only difference between this sushi and regular sushi is that once you have it rolled up, you just use your thumb to squish down one side and round out the other to make a tear drop shape.  Then you smoosh two together.  If your guests like things a little spicy, you can use wasabi to make sure the two halves don’t come apart.   What I love about sushi is that it’s easy to make it for very different people.  Both my seafood  loving boyfriend and my vegetarian self can enjoy sushi.  It’s great for everyone and fun to make!

Recipe:

Ingredients and equipment:

4 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup rice vinegar

3 tbsp sugar

3 tsp salt

4 sheets of nori

fillings

bamboo rolling mat

Prep time: 25 minutes once the rice is cooked

Cooking Instructions:

If you have any questions about the steps I have here, they are in more detail in my how-to post about sushi.  Check it out if you need more help.

Heat the vinegar, sugar, and salt over medium heat and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.  Mix into the sushi rice.  Cover the bamboo mat with plastic wrap.  Lay a piece of nori down so the shiny side is facing the bamboo mat and the rough side is facing up.  Scoop up 1 cup of the sushi rice blend and spread over the nori leaving about 1/2 inch of room at both the top and the bottom of the nori.  Place the fillings at the bottom of the nori and roll up the sushi.  Using the mat or your hands, squish one side down so that it makes a point.  Flatten the edge and then round out the other side so that it makes a raindrop.  The roll should be symmetrical so flatten out or round out as needed.  The nori is actually more durable than you’d thing so don’t be afraid to squish a little more.  Once it is the perfect raindrop shape, use your sharpest knife to cut the roll into 6 or 8 pieces.  Place two side by side (if you want you can use a little wasabi to help them stick together) to make a cute heart.  Serve immediately and enjoy!

My computer is broken.  It’s very lame.  Until it is repaired, I can’t post new recipes.  I’m still cooking and taking pictures of the food, so there will be lots of new posts once my computer is revived.  Until then, feel free check out previous recipes that you may have missed.  I’ll accept get well notes etc. in the comments section (just joking).

I hope to have new content soon and I will post again ASAP once my computer is fixed.  Have a great week, everyone!

UPDATE:  I have my computer back….but I lost all my data.  This weekend I plan on setting my computer up and I promise to post again on Sunday.  Thank you all for continuing to support my food blogging adventures!

First up, random news.  My post about asiago bagels was featured on Yummly.com!  You can see my new Yummly badge under the tab above “Links & Blog Roll.”  Now, on to the regular blog post about mushy gushy Valentine’s Day.

It always sort of freaked me out how much pink there was on Valentine’s Day.  It just doesn’t seem like Valentine’s Day should be about a color.  Love is cool, and all that, but why make it about pink?  Pink hints at romantic love, but there are so many other kinds of love like familial love and friendship love.

I say all this, but I have a LOT of pink things.  My controller for the Playstation 3 is pink (and, yes, I did squeal when I found it).  So, I figured I could put aside my reasons for not understanding pink on Valentine’s Day and make a pink drink to celebrate love of all kinds.  What I like about this drink is that it matches the color of flowers.  You can put in a pink tulip, rose, or carnation and it will still look lovely.  There are not enough opportunities to garnish drinks with flowers.  So no matter what kind of love you are celebrating, you can find a flower to match this drink and celebrate with those you love.

This drink is chocolate-y, but you can make it differently.  The way you make the drink this color is by using milk or other creamy mixers/liquors and adding a small amount of grenadine.  I thought that chocolate and the slight cherry taste from the grenadine would go well, but you could add any clear liquors you want to the milk and grenadine.  You could make a creamy pink cherry vodka drink if you wanted.  The sky (or liquor store) is your limit!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 shots milk

1 shot white chocolate liquor

1 shot vodka (vanilla or plain)

a few drops of grenadine

ice

pink flower (I used carnations)

Prep time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1 glass

Cooking Instructions:

Pour all the ingredients except to the grenadine into a shaker with ice.  Add a few drops of grenadine and shake again.  Be cautious about adding grenadine as too much will make the drink the color of Pepto-Bismal and not fun to drink.  If the drink is not pink enough, add more grenadine and shake again.  Pour into a martini glass.  Garnish with a trimmed and WASHED pink flower.  Drink up!

There have been times in my life where I lived on quesadillas.  I’ve always been a picky eater and cheese and bread are my go-to foods.  You can’t go wrong.  The quesadilla was one of my favorite combinations of the two.  Some people just stick it in the microwave, but the key is to make it on the stove.  Then it gets a nice crispy crust and crunches when you bite into it instead of just being soggy and floppy.

One day I was struck with a brilliant idea.  Why not put pizza toppings in a quesadilla?!  It was brilliant.  I got out all my favorite toppings (including pepperoni for the boyfriend) and made a quesadilla pizza.  Or a “pizzadilla” according to the boyfriend.  I think that looks like a dinosaur name, but sometimes weird things catch on.  Like whiskeryberry ale.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 flour tortilla

small amount of butter or olive oil

2 slices cheese (I used cheddar, but mozzarella might give it a more pizza feel)

2 slices tomato

your favorite pizza toppings (I used spinach, mushrooms, and pepperoni)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Servings: 1 quesadilla

Cooking Instructions:

Cover one side of the tortilla in butter or olive oil.  Place the cheese, tomato, and pizza toppings on one half of the un-buttered side of the tortilla.  Place in a frying pan and heat over medium heat.  Cook on one side until lightly brown.  Flip carefully and cook until the other side is also light brown.  If the cheese is not melting fast enough or the outside is browning too quickly, put a lid on the pan and turn the heat down.  Serve immediately while the cheese is still nice and gooey.

I’m trying to be adventurous.  I’m a fairly picky eater and I tend to stay away from meats and fish, but I’ve been trying to branch out.  When my boyfriend orders meat or seafood at a restaurant, I’ll try a bite.  It’s a big step for me.  Usually I’m not a huge fan of what he orders, but most things are not as bad as I remember them being.  To take my adventures in eating new foods even further, I decided to prepare fish for lunch today.  Fish is a healthier meat than red meat like burgers or steak so I figured if I was going to try to make meat, it might as well be a healthy type.

The fish wasn’t so bad.  I used a lot of spices to make a sort of “blackened tilapia,” so the flavor of the fish was somewhat masked.  Baby steps are a good thing, I think.  So I’m here to present to you today, Spicy Tilapia: A Fish Recipe Told by a Vegetarian.  Basically this is a beginner’s guide to cooking fish.  I’m new at it, but I can do it so you can too!

Recipe:

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tilapia filets

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp paprika

1 tsp chipotle powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp thyme

peanut sauce

Inactive time: 10 minutes

Active time: 10 minutes

Servings: Makes 2 tilapia filets

Cooking Instructions:

Combine the paprika, chipotle powder, garlic powder, and thyme in a small bowl and mix to blend together.  Coat both sides of both tilapia with the spice mixture.  Allow to rest for about 10 minutes.  Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot, place both tilapia in the pan.  Cook for 2-3 minutes then flip gently and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes.  The fish is done when the center is white and opaque.  No part of it should be translucent.  The fish will break apart easily when cooked so be careful when placing it on a plate.  Serve with peanut sauce drizzled over the top.  Enjoy immediately with veggies and/or pasta with the peanut sauce and don’t forget to go for second helpings!

I’ve been having a bad cooking streak.  I forgot sugar in my past 2 recipes!  I was feeling down, and I didn’t really want to cook again.  I knew that if I didn’t make something I loved that I’d be feeling rejected all week.  So when I was thinking of something new to make, I went for an old favorite.  This recipe is delicious and so comforting.  Cheese and bread always make everything better and this is the ultimate combination of the two.  I should always double the recipe because I can eat a whole batch in a day.

This recipe is simple and will make bread that everyone loves.  You can probably even get people to help you make it.  It’s quite simple and would be a great recipe to make with kids.  The original recipe is from my favorite bread recipe book.  I’m not sure where to find this book now, but I got it on clearance at Border’s for $5.  Best find ever.  The technical name for these is “Georgian Khachapuri,” but around here we just call them “Cheese Muffins.”  These little muffins originated in the country of Georgia as street food and are found in muffin forms like this or flatter forms that are almost like a quesadilla.  I’ve only had this kind before, but you can’t go wrong with cheese breads.

Recipe:

Printable Version

Ingredients:

Dough:

2/3 cup milk, lukewarm

2 tbsp butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp active dry yeast

Filling:

1 egg, lightly beaten

8 oz (or 2 cups) grated cheddar cheese

8 oz  Munster cheese, cubed

1 tbsp butter, softened

Glaze:

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp water

Active time: 25 minutes

Inactive time: 2 hours

Servings: Makes 6 muffins

Cooking Instructions:

Mix all the dough ingredients together.   Knead for 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Place in an oiled bowl and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap.  Allow to rise for 1 hour.  If using a bread machine, combine all the ingredients in the bread pan in the order listed and set to dough.

Just before the dough is done rising, mix together all the ingredients for the filling.  Season with salt and pepper if desired (I never found it necessary).

After the dough rises, knock back and knead for about 1 minute.  Divide the dough into 6 equal parts.  Roll each part into a ball and then roll it into an 6 inch circle.  Spray a muffin tin with oil.  Place a dough circle into an oiled hole of the muffin tin.  There will a lot of overhang, that’s good.  Fill with the cheese filling mixture.  Gather the overhang and pinch closed.  Twist to form a top knot.  Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Mix the egg yolk and water together for the glaze.  Brush over the tops of the muffins.  Place in the oven and back for 25-30 minutes until the tops are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes in the muffin tin.  Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy immediately  or refrigerate and reheat in a toaster oven.  Don’t forget to go for second helpings!