Molten Lava Cake

Sugar rush! This was so so good!

Somewhere along the line, I had the inspiration to make homemade lava cake. The idea probably came from knowing that it was the best possible creation to make with my ramekins. I used the Paula Deen recipe posted on Savory Sweet Life and cut it in thirds for 2 servings.

The recipe was very simple. My chocolate and butter melted in just one minute. I baked the cakes for 11 minutes. The centers were warm and gooey. The cakes slid right out of the ramekins when turned upside down. What a relief, as I was most worried about that part.

I topped the cakes with powdered sugar. Although, ice cream or fresh fruit would have made it even tastier.

Go make it now.

What's Going On Wednesday

Guess who's running a 5K on Saturday?

Me! Sweaty...

Last night I made these homemade oatmeal creme pies:

And look at the new billboard by my apartment:

My bosses watch over me at night

Gotta love it.

Cooking Kabobs

Saturday night I was inspired to do some serious cooking. Iranian food was again on my mind. I've made kabobs a couple times, but have yet to master them. I also wanted to try basmati rice with tahdig. I have to say, that with the help of  this cookbook and My Persian Kitchen, I came close.  Check out my feast: 

According to Brandon, the meat was spot on (tasted just like my Dad's). I skewered the meat and cooked in over our grill pan. Not 100% satisfied with this technique but it did stay mostly on the skewers and got cooked all the way through. Roasted tomatoes are to die for - slice in half, skewer and grill baby - don't forget the salt! The rice was a labor of love, mostly following this recipe. My tadhig was a bit burnt and the rice was a bit too soft. Must learn how to make potato tadhig. And finally the salad was made according to this recipe. I didn't have any mint though. I topped off my plate with a scoop of plain yogurt and it was so good (I'll need to get some dill if I want it to taste like Baba's).

Overall, a great meal with plenty of leftovers.


Ground Meat Kabob
Serves 6

2 lb lean ground beef
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large onion, peeled and finely grated
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp lime juice

1. In a warm mixing bowl, combine meat, salt, pepper, baking soda and onion. Knead with your hands for about 5 minutes to form a paste that will adhere well to cooking skewers. Cover the paste and let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature.
2. Using damp hands, divide the meat paste into 12 equal lumps about the size of oranges. Roll each into a sausage shape 5 inches long and mold it firmly around a flat, sword-like skewer. Cover and keep in a cool place.
3. For the baste, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add a pinch of salt and lime juice.
4. Arrange the skewers on the grill. After a few seconds, turn the meat gently to help it attach to the skewers and to prevent it from falling off.
5. Grill the meat 3 to 5 minutes on each side, and brush with mixture of melted butter and lime juice, just before removing it from the grill.

Sunday Dinner

Since I've been away from home for so long, I haven't had my fill of my dad's cooking. I figure it's time I learned how to make the stuff for myself. So, the last time I was home I copied some recipes from this Iranian cookbook. The recipe was for Celery Khoresh (Khoresh-e karafs). Basically, celery and beef stew with parsley and mint. Two and  half hours later, look at how it turned out:

Labor of love! But so worth it.

As in any proper Sunday dinner, I made another entree (also, for my picky fiance). I grilled some chicken drumsticks on my grill pan using this simple marinade. I think the Dijon mustard added a lot.

All together now:

A great meal. Don't be afraid of the green.

I will admit, I cheated and made Minute Rice. The meal was also missing a cucumber yogurt salad. But don't worry, my next project is to make kabobs with authentic basmati rice. In the meantime, if you are looking for more Persian food check out My Persian Kitchen.

Celery Khoresh
Serves 6

2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lb stew meat, cut in 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
5 stalks of celery, chopped into bite sized pieces
3 cups chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
squeeze of lime juice

1. In a dutch oven, brown onions and meat in 3 tbs oil. Add salt, pepper and turmeric. Pour in 2 cups water. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 min.
2. In a frying pan, fry the chopped celery in 3 tbs oil for 10 min, stirring occasionally. Add chopped parsley and mint and fry for 10 min longer.
3. Add the mixture of celery and herbs and the lime juice to the meat. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1.5 hours longer.
4. Taste the stew and season accordingly with more salt and pepper. Serve hot over rice.

Happy Valentine's Day

On Saturday night, Brandon and I celebrated Valentine's Day. It was a good thing we celebrated early because tonight I have class until 8 pm (quiz included). We decided not to buy presents for each other and instead, we are taking a trip to Memphis at the end of the month. Cooking together was a good way to spend some quality time together without spending too much money.

After bowling, we hit up Kroger to decide what to make. We went to the grocery store with the idea of steak in mind but saw that ribs were on sale. Brandon was so excited when he saw them but I was intimidated. How in the world would we cook a piece of meat so large?  The decision was made a bit easier when we saw that there were thawed ribs for sale (because they are too large to defrost in the microwave!).  Then we called the King and Queen of the kitchen, Jim and Dana, for advice on cooking. Turns out these babies are super low maintenance. We just trimmed and seasoned the meat and set it in the oven at 275 for 1 hour. Then we lathered it up with Uncle Joe's bbq sauce (best. sauce. ever.) and cooked it for 1.5 more hours. Look at the final product:

So tender and juicy!

Brandon was very proud of his work.

We rounded out the meal with homemade mashed potatoes (a true accomplishment because we have been using instant potatoes a lot) and Heartland Blush. The evening started with a little bubbly, cheap tasty Champagne, my idea, because we needed to toast our engagement properly.

Absolutely delicious! For dessert, Brandon picked out this recipe for us to try. Brandon's favorite desserts are raspberry, but unfortunately, this time of year the berries in the grocery store are terrible! We found a semi-decent pint - but really it was rough. This dish also gave me a great excuse to finally use my microplane zester (thanks Brittany!).

Lemon zest + raspberries = winning! The end product was Raspberry Clafoutis (cla-foo-tee). So French!

We ate while watching the movie - In Time. The movie about a bunch of 25 year olds, which we got with our Family Video gift card.

What are you doing to celebrate?


Last year's celebration here

Four Thoughts on Food

1. Blackberries and raspberries were $1 at Schnuck's. Wow! I was so excited I bought 6 cartons. Actually ... I shared most of them with my coworkers. We had a pre-Thanksgiving potluck at work today:

Big Juicy Berries

2. I bought my first leek. I'm a fan. It reminds me of a giant spring onion and smells so good! I plan on using it this weekend in beef and barley soup. 

3. I made chocolate chip oatmeal scotchies. These are my contribution to tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. 

4. For dinner Brandon brought me home a sub from Whiffleboy's. The one benefit of having a pizza maker as a boyfriend - hearts on my takeout box :)

Proper Presentation

How great is my mom? She read my post about apple crumple and promptly sent me 4 little white ramekins. Just what I needed! I made the recipe again and it was an even greater success!

Likely due to the ice cream on top:

The ramekins kept the apples piping hot so the ice cream melted deliciously creamy. Mmm. Have you made this yet?

I just spent an awesome weekend with Brandon at a B&B in Ste. Genevieve - recap to come! Definitely in the holiday spirit - just a 3 day work-week and NO classes - woo hoo!

Nathan's Grill Pan

I'm always inspired to cook on Sundays. It's a good way to ensure leftovers for at least Monday lunch. Today's meal was inspired by a birthday present I forgot to mention:

A grill pan! Perfect for grilling some BBQ chicken breasts. I used Maull's Sweet-N-Mild sauce. When they have it on sale at Kroger for $1, Brandon's dad stocks up and shares with us. 

The meal was tasty served with mashed potatoes and corn for him:

and salad for her:

As you can see, I also made deviled eggs. This was after finding out that the eggs in our fridge had a sell-by date of October 21. I had Brandon do some research and we found out that the eggs are fine in the fridge until they dry out as long as they don't have salmonella in them. Haha. The eggs turned out well and I'm not dead yet so I think we're safe.

The grill pan was a gift from Brandon's parents along with a night's stay at The Dr. Hertich House in Sainte Genevieve, MO. We will be cashing it in next Saturday - so excited!

What was for Dinner

I forgot to share this dinner with you from a while ago. I was inspired by some recipes from blogs. First up was this Julia Child-inspired Beef Bourguignon. Slow cooker recipes are so easy! 

The meat came out super tender however the wine sauce was not right. Too bitter for our taste buds. I used the leftovers in an Asian salad and a rice bowl. I think I'll stick to Mom's traditional pot roast.

For dessert, I used the last of our Apple Festival apples for this Apple Crisp:

I liked the maple syrup, it added a lot. And I sliced the apples really thin so I loved the texture. Served with vanilla ice cream this was Yum-o! I had a small glass dish to bake it in but clearly I need a pretty little ramekin.

Dumpling Maker

Today was the Kiwanis/Knights of Columbus Chicken & Dumpling Dinner. It was a fundraiser for our Kiwanis Club. Brandon and I volunteered for the morning shift which meant making dumplings:

Assembly line

Brandon hard at work!

Bestill my Southern Illinois lovin' heart! My job was feeding the dough through the pasta roller. Guess who wants a KitchenAid Stand Mixer?! The pasta roller was an attachment to the mixer. Fun!

Finished product

In addition to Chicken & Dumplings were coleslaw, mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls and a buffet of amazing desserts made by Dana Ritcheson.

Happy customers

I had a lot of fun. I hope we raised a lot of money!!!

PS: This has me cracking up like no other:

Source

Ginger Chicken and Broccoli

Last night's Birthday/Halloween party was a blast. Brandon and I were Popeye and Olive Oyl - pictures to come!

I'll admit, I haven't had much Chinese food living here. There is definitely some available (New Kahala, Great Wall) but really the only place I'd still like to try is Hunan. So, when I found a coupon for P.F. Chang's Home Menu frozen dinner I was pretty excited to try it. Btw, convenience foods, while not the best for you, really save the night when you come home from work and school and are starving at 8pm. Not to mention, the nearest PF Chang's is 80 miles away. When I went to the store, I had only two options, so I went with the Ginger Chicken and Broccoli flavor. When I emptied the bag into the pan I was a little confused:

I saw chicken, brocolli, red pepper and brown blocks? At first I thought they were tofu and that Brandon would never eat this! Then my brain kicked in and I realized it was frozen blocks of sauce. Here is the cooked meal:

P.F. Chang's Ginger Chicken

The chicken was tender, the vegetables were soft but not mushy and the sauce was very flavorful. My mistake was serving it with this:

Uncle Ben's Ready Rice

While I really love Uncle Ben's Spanish Rice, the Teriyaki Style was not good! The soy flavor was bitter and did not mesh well with the P.F. Chang's sauce. I was craving some white sticky rice instead, oh well. Brandon and I ate about two-thirds of the meal which left me some for lunch the next day.

Look Ma

I made pie!

I came home last night to find a package from Amazon. Mom sent me a belated housewarming present - a pie plate!

Naturally, I made pie. Immediately! The only fruit we had was frozen rhubarb and red raspberries. Brandon has been wanting rhubarb pie for a while now. He has a good childhood memory of it. I've never tried it but I wanted PIE!

Rhubarb has a really great flavor. The texture though is a little odd - very fibrous, like celery. I used this recipe for the filling. It turned out quite liquidy but I think that was because I used frozen fruit. Tasted delicious and looked darn pretty in the dish. Thanks Mom!

Balsamic Chicken

Tonight's dinner was Balsamic Chicken. I made it with red onions instead of baby spinach and white rice instead of couscous. It was good especially if you like the tang of balsamic vinegar.

Tonight's Dinner

I cooked Rachael Ray's Pork, Apple and Cheddar Meatballs tonight and they were an absolute hit! I was intrigued by the combination of flavors. Basically you grate everything up - green apple, cheddar and onion. Mix it up with pork, parsley and breadcrumbs. Broil for 8-10 minutes. Serve over egg noodles. Loving the egg noodles.

In case you were wondering, the only difference between egg noodles and regular pasta is that egg noodles have more cholesterol - same amount of protein and calories.

Hopping Aboard the Coupon Train

Today was a slow day at work, we had more techs than were needed. So I had a chance to practice my venipuncture skills some more. This time we did infusions (pushed saline into each other's veins). I'm getting better. Thanks to my brave coworkers! After that, my supervisior decided to send someone home and I was the lucky one :)

Brandon also had the day off so we spent the day watching world cup soccer. USA USA USA! I also made a wicked shopping list using all the coupons I've started collecting. When I went to Kroger I used 7 coupons at the register and saved $6.75. Haha. Yay! I'm almost an extreme couponer, lol.

For dinner I made BBQ shrimp, sweet corn and the disaster that was microwave mashed potatoes.

That's what I get for taking a short-cut I guess? Oh well.

It's been really hot here lately. But last night we had some torrential rain:

Gotta remember to take those summer storms seriously! (I was stranded for a good 20 minutes).

We're having a pot luck lunch at work on Friday. What should I bring?

Secret Admirer

I spent the majority of the day at the library working on my Genetics exam. When I got out, I found this note on my windshield:

Tribe Pride or stalker? Either way, I don't plan on calling him. When I got home I had the urge to make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They turned out delish!

Red Lobster Lovers

Brandon can't get enough of Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits. Using a copy-cat recipe I made these:

SOOO good. Mix buttermilk pancake mix with milk and cheddar. Bake and then brush with melted butter and garlic powder. We're going to Red Lobby tonight because Brandon's got a gift card, I have a coupon and they have a $15 meal deal. What more could a girl ask for on date night?! Let the holiday weekend begin!

Salami-Mozzarella Calzone

Gotta thank Food Network Magazine for another great recipe. My new favorite ingredient is Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough. It's easy to roll out, cooks evenly and tastes great. Tonight I used it to make a Salami-Mozzarella Calzone.

As usual, I made a few substitutions. I used lemon juice and dried parsley for the crust. And  in the filling - instead of girdiniera (pickled veggies) I used red onions soaked in balsamic vinegar, I also used turkey instead of salami on Brandon's half. The crust cooked in about 12 minutes instead of 15.

I served it with jarred marinara. Delicious!