Popcorn and Beer!

Ok this post is a little late. But it has been a BUSY weekend!  I've been home all of 24 hours right now as I type this.

So what do we do on a monday to relax after a weekend of running around like chickens with our heads cut off? Why, popcorn and beer.

Oooooohhhh..... how.... ordinary. Whatever. I don't do that in the microwave fake butter stuff.
I do mine over the stove. With real oil! So bite me. It's fabulous. And since we support our local farmers, I made it with rainbow kernels. That just means the corn is multi colored, sadly the popcorn is all white. If someone knows how to make it also turn out colorful please call me.

So How Do You Make This?

Take a nice sized quart pot with lid. Put maybe 1-2 tbsp of peanut oil down. You want that so you can get the heat up. Now at this point you can leave it at the peanut oil, OR add 1 tbsp butter, OR add 1 tbsp olive oil. I typically go olive oil. I like to think its healthier and it just adds a nice level of flavor.

Stick that on high heat and pour in 2-3 tbsp of kernels and slap that lid on. Let them sit on high heat until you hear the first kernel pop. Once that happens start shaking the CRAP out of that pot on the heat until you don't hear the kernels popping anymore. Or the lid pops off, whichever comes first.

Place that in a bowl quickly and immediately sprinkle with salt (and if you want some melted butter). Make sure you shake the bowl as you add toppings to make sure its well spread. Now EAT!

You can add other toppings such as cheese, old bay seasoning, sugar... the list is endless.  Oh and uh yeah, crack open a bottle of beer (preferably craft beer from your local brewery) and enjoy the evening!

FLUFFY STUFF!!

Who doesn't love marshmallow fluff? In all its gooey, sticky, yummy, sugary goodness, it is just about the perfect piece of food ever. I feel bad. I didn't get photos of this one. But trust me, it looks like marshmallow fluff but tastes even better! We had to drive to my mom's this weekend, and since she's a fluff fanatic I was going to bring the stuff with me, but I forgot. *sigh*

So here I am writing about my favorite food ever without pics. Boo!

This was actually a lot simpler than I thought, but I did need a candy thermometer. So you need to get yourself one if you don't have it. I got mine at the local grocer store for 20$. Its digital, has an alarm to go off when it hits the right temp, and attaches to my fridge. Its kinda awesome. And I like cooking gadgets.

So here's a couple of tidbits before we get to the recipe: 1. Start the corn syrup mixture first THEN the meringue so that hopefully they finish at about the same time, 2. Once you mix the corn syrup mixture PUT THE LID ON THE POT!! this will create condensation on the sides of the pot that will move all the sugar crystals into the mix and prevent and crystallization of the mix which would ruin things, 3. SLOWLY add the mixes together so you don't cook the eggs (Ew!). Ok so thats three things, sue me. Remember them, they're important!

On to the recipe!!

Marshmallow Fluff!!!
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/4 c. water

pinch of salt

2 large egg whites

2 overflowing capfuls of vanilla 

1. Mix sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir well and put lid on the pan until boiling. Once boiling remove lid and place in thermometer and stir occasionally until it hits 240'  (I didn't REALLY stir mine much, it was well mixed prior and the boiling was mixing it well enough I figured).

2. While the sugar boils,put the egg whites in your stand mixer with the whisk. Beat on medium speed until you get medium peaks. This is where your time management and multi tasking skills come in handy. Keep the mixer near the pot so you can move on to step three quickly. 

3. When the sugar stuff hits 240' take it 0ff the heat and SLOWLY add a few bits to the eggs on low, this will temper the eggs so they don't cook. Then continue to slowly add more of the sugar to the eggs until its all in there. Keep mixing the two together until the fluff actually starts to get kinda shiney and glossy. 

4. Continue mixing and add the vanilla. Once done put in an airtight container (or eat right away I wont judge) and refrigerator until you're ready to use it.  It should last about two weeks, but you'll probably use it faster than that.

So what do you do with it? Top ice cream, add to a peanut butter sammy, top on brownies (bonus put under a broiler and have roasted marshmallow topping!) eat right off the spoon if you want! Its awesome and endless so have fun!

Scones!

Scones, scones the magical treat, the more you make, the more you eat. Yum!!

Scones are one of my favorite treats. For anytime. We have a friend from across the pond who visits us fairly frequently. She likes to eat out. I like to eat in. I'm hoping someday I can convince her my food is as good as any restaurants. This recipe is just one weapon in my war against eating out.

Now the scone on the left is a lovely toffee scone, and the one on the right is a pecan/chocolate chip scone. After making these we considered other options. Bacon and maple, pumpkin spice, chocolate orange, white chocolate and cranberries. Basically the sky is the limit. 

So we have a base recipe. It makes 8 scones. You can mix and add as you wish. I made two batches because I have no self control, and they are currently being sealed in an air tight container. There is also a discussion about making clotted cream, but yeah..... you know, that whole diet thing is really cramping my feasting style. But stay tuned I might yet break down and do it. So lets move on to the recipe.

Scones!!!!

Makes 8

• 1  1/4 c flour
• 1/8 - 1/4 c sugar (depends on how sweet you like it. I went closer to 1/8)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• **1/4 (or maybe a little more) mini chocolate chips
• **1/4 c pecan (next time I'm toasting them)
• 1/2 c sour cream (I know right?? Trust me)
• 2 1/2 tbsp butter or margarine (I had margarine on hand. Room temp please)

**For the toffee scones substitute these two ingredients for an over flowing 1/2 c of chocolate toffee bits)

1. This is super easy, so don't worry you cant mess it up. DONT BE AFRAID OF SCONES!!!

2.Dump the flour, sugar, and baking soda in a bowl. Give it a whirl with a spoon.

3.  Now add in your pecans and chips (or toffee bits) and stir to coat them with the flour mixture. 

4. Add the sour cream and margarine and mix until a nice and slightly sticky dough forms. 

5. Dump that dough out on a floured pan and shape it into a ball. Now flatten that ball until its a 1/2 -3/4 inch thick disk. 

6. Grab your pizza cutter (or a nice long, sharp knife) and cut that sucker into 8 triangles. Separate the triangles about 1inch apart to bake.

7. Little trick I learned from my mom. Dust those babies with some baking sugar. Makes them look shiney! 

8. Place those puppies in a preheated 450' oven for about 10-12 mins. Don't burn them. That would be sad.

9. When done place them on a cooling rack long enough that you don't burn your tongue when you try to eat them.

10. EAT IT!!! Eat as a snack, for tea time, as part of breakfast, or for dessert. Its scone, it's perfect anytime!

Check out my fiancé's site to learn the recipe for the quiche he served the scone up with for brunch. Enjoy!

Mushroom Ravioli and Warm Bacon Salad

Ok the follow up mushroom post, like I promised. Woohoo. Actually it was really good. Really, really good. Somewhat labor intensive though. So J and I had to break up the work. I texted him from work to make the pasta up and sauté the mushrooms. So he got his recipe for the pasta from here. I must say it was pretty good and it put the pasta maker to work when I got home. Now this is the first time Ive made ravioli so it was pretty.... uh... rustic. I recommend a ravioli press I think, but doing it by hand will work, they are just gonna be funny shapes (at least mine were).

For the filling:

Call your significant other at home and ask them to sauté two cups of sliced mushrooms, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp olive oil, one clove garlic, and salt and pepper until reduced by half in size. Have them pull it off and let it cool. Now when you get home throw those mushrooms into a food processor. Add 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, 1 egg yolk (I used the egg white for an egg wash to make the ravioli stick together), 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, and a little more salt and pepper. Pulse until well blended. 

I ran my pasta dough through my pasta maker until it hit level 6. I would probably only go up to 3 or four next time since I think I made it a bit to thin. I took each sheet, laid it out, put my filling down (about a tablespoon) about 2 inches apart. I put an egg wash surrounding each piece of filling and topped with another layer of pasta. Press together firmly and then cut into individual pieces. This took a while, and I got about 15 ravioli from it. Big ones. I was full afterward. I then cooked them up in boiling water for about 3 minutes and put them in a sauce made of olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, italian seasoning, and grated cheese. I'm sorry but I didn't measure these. Thats my fault :-( 

For the salad:

Now you cant live on pasta alone. Sadly. So we made a salad. Now I've made this before and J liked it so much he actually put it on his blog here. He has a good blog. You should read it. But for those who don't want the extra click,  well I copied it to here. I made it. Twice. I think I'm allowed ;-)

Warm Maple Bacon Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 strips of Bacon, cooked, crumbled and bacon fat reserved
• 1/3 cup Real Maple Syrup
• 3 tablespoons Country Dijon Mustard
• 2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Shallot, finely diced
• 1 package of fresh spinach
• 1 small Honeycrisp Apple, sliced
• 1/4 cup Pecan Halves
• 1/4 cup Asiago Cheese, or more to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the maple syrup, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper into a small bowl or jar and set aside.
2. Toss together the spinach, sliced apples, pecans, cheese, and crumbled bacon.
3. Reheat the bacon fat over medium/ medium-high heat.
4. Sauté diced shallot until softened. 
5. While whisking, gradually add in the jar of maple/mustard mixture. 
6. Simmer for 3-5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
7. Plate up the salads and serve the warm maple bacon dressing drizzled over the top.

So thats dinner. And lunch. Hooray for leftovers!

Enjoy :)

Mushroom and Shrimp Risotto

So we just got home from a day out. Where we totally blew our calorie counts. So I needed a meal that was filling, tasty, and low on calories. And quick. We were hungry.  Solution? RISOTTO!!! Added bonus? SHRIMP!!! I was so hungry I forgot to grab my camera for the final pic, so this is from my phone. (Yeah sorry about that but this fat chick was starving, at least I remembered a pic though.)

J (the future husband to be ((yay!))) declared it a success. And it included one of his favorite foods (mushrooms) cut in small enough bites that it added flavor but didn't gross me out (note: mushrooms are NOT my favorite food, but we have to compromise.) Stay tuned for the ravioli I make from the rest of the mushrooms. And we really are trying to eat healthier and incorporate more foods into out diet. Plus it was getting cold and ready to snow and it was just warm creamy goodness all the way around.

Risotto isn't that difficult to make, and it is an under 30 minute meal. AND I can get arborio rice even in my po-dunk little town.  And its made with ingredients that we keep on hand. I've made a bunch of difference flavors from it but I always start with the base of olive oil, onion/shallot, and garlic. Any extra cheese, veggies, meats, etc are just a bonus in flavor. I use stock not broth when I make mine, I just think it makes it taste better. But thats me. 

So here's the grocery list:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves (diced/minced/crushed)

1 shallot (minced/diced)

1 c. Arborio Rice

1/3 c. Parmesan Cheese

3-4 c. Chicken Stock (it goes faster if its heated. I was lazy and didn't. Still works. Just saying....)

1 c. Mushrooms (minced) (i cheated and put them in the food processor. Again, I'm lazy. Sue me.)

16 large shrimp (technically 4 shrimp per person, add more if you're hungry. Who am I to judge)

Salt and Pepper to taste ( I really limit the salt for J, and its in the stock. Its still yum)

This recipe makes 4 servings. Enough for dinner and lunch the next day! So here it is. Enjoy!

Step 1: Add the Oil, garlic and onion to a pan on medium heat and sweat them out for a bit. We want all that flavor to soak into the oil.

Step 2: Add the rice, uncooked to the oil. This toasts up the rice and adds a nice flavor. Stir it constantly for about 3 mins to cover all your bases.

Step 3: Add some chicken stock a little at a time. I add about 2/3 c at a time and then let it simmer uncovered.  I let it thicken up for about 3-5 mins before adding more. I can tell when its thick enough because I run my spoon through it and the liquid doesn't fill the trail of the spoon immediately (yeah real technical :-( sorry)

Step 4: While that is going on put your mushrooms into the food processor and mince away to get them teeny tiny (if you actually like mushrooms you can leave them larger.) After about the 2nd or 3rd addition of chicken stock when the rice was starting to soften up I added the minced mushrooms to the rice mix and then continued with adding my stock as before. 

Step 5: Once you've added about 3 c. of stock and its reached a thickened point, take a spoon and try a small bite. If the rice is tender CONGRATS you can move on. If its not keep adding until its tender. Sorry I have no scientific way to measure this.

Step 6: Once its tender Lets add some cheese and shrimp. The cheese will melt in and add a nice touch of flavor and the shrimp will cook up quick on the heat. 

And thats it. When the Shrimp is nice and pink, plate it up and serve it up! And most importantly bask in the fact you made a scrumptious and healthy meal in under 30 minutes. 

Rainbow Smith Island Cake

Looks kinda funky, doesn't it? Its ok you wont hurt my feelings. I made the icing a bit too thin, but we'll get there in a moment.

Ok this is a smith island cake. Its nine layers. Its delicious. And today, its rainbow colored. I may have promised a friend of mine that I would make him some cakes for a bake sale to help him on his way to Miss Gay America. So I thought a rainbow Smith Island cake would be fabulous. So did everyone else.   So this is my test run.  Like I said the icing needs some thickening (but honestly its was gonna snow and I could NOT be bothered to go to the store to buy extra powdered sugar to thicken it up). I like the colors of the cakes though. And I think I have a decent process set up now for making the. Total time? Around two hours.

Now here's the issue. I was sworn to secrecy on my cake recipe. So I can share it. But really you can use a regular box mix, just make sure you mix it till its kinda fluffy. But I can share the icing recipe which is as follows:

ICING RECIPE

One Stick butter

One Box Sugar

2 Tbsp milk (add more 1 tsp at a time until its a creamy consistency)

1 tsp good vanilla

Mix it all together, and really it shouldn't be as this as the one in my pic. Don't be lazy like me. But if you are, well then that our little secret.

So how do you make a smith island cake? Well, patience is a virtue so remember that when you take this project on.

Ok so take your cake pans, I have three (I once had six. I do NOT know where the other three are but I want them back). Butter and flour your pans like normal and set aside. Now take three bowels and put half a cup of batter into each bowl. Add a few drops of colors to each bowl and mix. So its gonna look like this.

I probably shouldnt have so many options color wise. But its kinda fun. I recommend it. Now my little bowls hold a cup and have measuring widgets on the side. So I can measure and mix all in one go. This makes less waste which is important when you are trying to make a zillion layers of cake. I will also tell you that I had three bowls, three spoons, and three pans. I washed and dried each set between baking rather than risking any colors mixing up.




Next you are going to take those pretty colors and add them to your pans. And its an eight inch pan. And your filling it with 1/2 c. of batter. Its gonna look a bit thin, but don't worry. I promise you this will work. Once I spread it with the spoon,  I whomp it on the kitchen counter a couple times to make sure its well spread out.

Once all three are done, pop them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. I cook all three at one time. I look forward to making these at my moms house. She has two ovens. I am so jealous. 

 Once cooked I let them rest on a cooling rack.

 From the cooling rack i stack them on a plate with wax paper between. Gives me an idea of the way I want to stack them and about how high the cake is gonna be.

So once all of those layers are baked let them cool while you go sip on a cup of tea. When you're ready to head back into the kitchen whip up that icing recipe and lets assemble!

 Stack and ice. It is a VERY thin layer of icing between each layer. And if it gets to high, or becomes the leaning tower of Pisa stick something in it to hold it steady. Pretzel rods work pretty good.

Yeah that icing looks pretty bad, but the COLORS!!!! Its not a bad way to impress someone yeah? And hopefully for us it will raffle and sell well enough to help our friend on his way. So ENJOY!

Operation: Wedding Dress

Ok, lets get one thing straight. I am NOT a dress girl. I'm a jeans and t-shirt and something comfy kinda girl. Sure I like a little bit of bling on my shirts once in a while, but hey who doesn't. So what's a girl on a budget with a low key wedding planned supposed to do for a wedding? That's actually a really good question.

Lets be frank, I'm a big girl. I have hips and boobs. I am proud of both. But sometimes they don't play well with dresses. And most of the models for wedding dresses DON'T have my figure (seriously david's bridal.... lets fix this) and the ones that they do have are slightly out of my budget. My mom has offered to buy my dress, which is cool, but I still refuse to spend a zillion bucks on a dress I will wear only once.  So for the past several months I've been staring at dresses out of my budget, silhouettes befitting a slimmer person, and so much bling that would put a beauty pageant to shame. Basically nothing that screams me.

I had basically resigned myself to having to go into one of those big stores with 100 of my newest and closest friends, hiding in a dressing room whilst my family brings me items that *should* fit, while avoiding the over attentive consultant who has the best of intentions  I'm sure. **SHUDDER** Its like my worse nightmares come to life minus the clowns. Fortunately, I had one of the little miracle moments occur that made my life so much easier.

The other weekend we went to visit my mom for an early birthday (we had to work on her real birthday) and in the midst of eating and opening present of sheep designed duct tape, mom asked if I wanted to go to Savage Mills to look at dresses. Several weeks prior I had found a little second hand wedding dress shop there and saw a dress (briefly) that *might* work for me. But I left it there, never tried it on, never took it off the hanger. But I still thought about, even mentioned it to my mom. So... mom being the genius that she is (I come by it honestly at least), we went to Savage Mills.

Girls, if you ever want a nice dress on a budget. Go to these second hand shops. They dresses are gorgeous, reasonably priced, and the proceeds go to help women in need. Its perfect. And guess what. My dress was there. Still on the hanger. So, tentatively I tried it on. I wont lie, I sucked in my gut a little (ok a lot, bite me, I have months to lose 10 pounds if needed). And the dress is GORGEOUS. AND IT FIT. FIT. FIT. FIT!!! And the length was PERFECT. It was like me own dress was just sitting there. Waiting for me to realize I had pre-ordered it and needed to pick it up. And the cost? $125. Not breaking moms bank with that fortunately. And my mom? Over the moon! I was wishy washy over it. She had it in her hands and was hunting down one of the ladies who worked there. Needless to say. I now own a wedding dress. I'm moderately thrilled.

But my mom still wants the David'd bridal experience, and you know what? I'm now ok with it. I know I can go in there and try things on and not feel uber self conscious and worried about finding something  too expensive that I cant afford, or something mediocre thats just in my price range. Now we can go, have fun, enjoy the experience, and let my mom see me all dressed up. But without worrying about money or committing to a dress. Whew.

Oh, and mom said we could wear tiara's when we go. WIN!

Wedding.... WHAT??

So not much posted in the last few months. Apologies but I GOT ENGAGED!!!! *insert hearts and smilies here*

So since november I have: gotten engaged, set a date, found a dress, found a venue, determined a menu (note to self email that woman back!), planned a cake and bouquet. All on a budget. Under $4000.

Go Us!

So breaking away from the whole food thing for a bit. Wedding on a budget. Sounds like a bummer? Wrong! I think its gonna be a blast. Here's the deal. I'm not a pearl and lace and champaign kinda girl. Im more denim and diamonds with some low heels kinda girl. And practical. Why do I want to spend $10000+ on one day I'd much rather have a vaca- erm.... honey moon than rose petals and wine. So we set a date and went venue shopping.

Lets say this first. Venues are EXPENSIVE. I mean $$$$$ just to rent a room for 4-6 hours. What the actual heck??  But whatever. Family wont let me go to Vegas (and yes I know its OUR day, but really christmas is two weeks after my wedding and it would be nice to not have people pissed off for making them fly somewhere. And really I just dont wanna hear the whining). So venues, need a nice neutral ground (parents are divorced and not on friendly terms) so moms house is OUT and so is Dads. Darn. Its gonna be in winter, so has to be indoors. Double Darn. We were looking at places that started at 1-2 grand just for the space, not even including the food. That was breaking the budget. And breaking the budget is bad. So we thought outside the box.

Winery wedding? Overdone, and frankly they've realized they can rent space for lots of money too. So whats a couple to do? Well visit their local brewery of course. Its fantastic. I will sing their praises forever. $50 to rent the room. FIFTY BUCKS. And the food? Cooked in house. BBQ, sliders and skewers. AND they can make gluten free options for some of my guests!! SCORE. Total cost? about $2500 after taxes and tips. And it is a nice cozy laid back atmosphere. Im kinda thrilled about it all honestly.

This has lead to a whole host of beer and brewery themed wedding planning. Eat, Drink, and be Married!! Center pieces of cut beer bottles, beer bottle cap place holders, beer flavored jelly bean favors.... I'll post pictures as we make them. Promise. Best part? I get my decorations from my friends throughout the year. For free. Means I wont be slammed in august trying to get it all together. Down side. I have a giant box in my living room slowly collecting stuff for the wedding.

Theres so much more, brooch boquets, tardis on a cake... I'll keep posting about what we are doing and how the budgets going. But just needed to start with an update. To be continued.... :) WHEEEE!!!