023: more birthday fun!

boy oh BOY have i been busy!  i have several recipes to upload, and i will get to them all when i can, but for now, this is just another fun cake i did for my dad's 50th birthday!  he absolutely loves trains, so with a little help from betty crocker, i made this masterpiece for his surprise birthday party.  this cake fed around 20 people with leftovers, so it's definitely possible to halve the recipe and make it on a much smaller (aka not table-sized) scale for your train lover.  delicious AND fun :o)

 equipment:
 2-4 loaf pans
serrated knife
glass of hot water
cookie sheets or cutting boards
frosting knife
candles (optional)


ingredients:
cake (i cheated and used 2 boxes of cake mix)
frosting (this bad boy took 1 can of chocolate and 3 of vanilla)
food coloring
round candies


steps:
because we were feeding so many, 2 batches of cake mix were necessary (many thanks to my mom for making the cakes!).  these were mixed into 2 loaf pans per batch (4 total loaf pans) and frozen after they cooled and were removed from the loaf pans

after they were frozen thoroughly, each cake was removed from the freezer individually and the rounded top cut off using a serrated knife.  *hint: this process becomes much easier if you dip the knife in hot water between each cut!  flip the cakes over so the part that used to be the top (now flat after cutting the rounded part off) is facing the counter and becomes the bottom.  this makes the cakes much more structurally stable.

first, i made the engine.  this is its own loaf pan, and is the biggest piece you'll be working with.  cut off the sides the long way of the cake so the cake is about 3 inches wide.  then cut 2 of the corners off so the shape is now a really awkward hexagon.  then, about 2 inches back from the back edge of those cuts, cut halfway down the height of the cake in 2 strips about 2 inches apart, the across the bottom of those 2 incisions to remove a piece half as thick as the cake itself.  "glue" this piece back onto the cake with chocolate icing so the back lines up with the first incision you just made.  confused yet?  check out the diagram below for some visual help and much needed clarification.

the rest of the cakes are really easy--just quarter them.  again, be sure to have the side that you cut the rounded top off become the bottom.  these quartered pieces become the "cars." place them the long way behind the engine piece.  i just placed my pieces on cookie sheets, but you could also do it on cutting boards or whatever you have that is big enough to support the whole train.  regardless, it should be something that you can put in the freezer.  after all your pieces are cut, place them onto whatever surface you're using (from here on out, i'll just say cookie sheets) in a train-like shape, meaning the engine followed by the cars in whatever arrangement suits your location best.  once arranged, put them back in the freezer, as this makes your decorating job MUCH easier.

the hard part is over!  phew!  now comes the tedious stuff--decorating.  i used all chocolate frosting on the engine and all vanilla on the cars.  take your cookie sheets out of the freezer one at a time, and crumb coat your pieces.  this means that you cover the pieces using frosting and a knife just to seal the crumbs of the cake in so that they don't affect your final decorating.  freeze each cookie sheet again after each piece on it is crumb coated.

then comes the actual decorating.  i did the engine all in chocolate, but each car i dyed a different color by mixing food coloring into the vanilla icing.  after each car was frosted, i added wheels by using round candies.  i piped spokes on to these with colored frosting, and connected them to the cars using plain frosting.  add whatever other decorations you like to your cars--be creative and have fun!  add candles if you want, but above all, enjoy :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!  i love you :o)
-kl

022: banana bread with streusel topping

so my roommate bought bananas for her sick boyfriend, but somehow none of us ended up eating them.  so what better to do with a bunch of overripe bananas than make banana bread??  so that is exactly what i did :o)  prep time was about 20 minutes, and bake time is around an hour.

equipment:
measuring cups and spoons
3 mixing bowls (1 larger, 2 medium)
loaf pans (i used 3 of the little guys, but you could use one standard sized one, too)


ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 overripe bananas, smashed
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. softened margarine (1 stick)
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. sugar
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. softened butter


steps:
1.) preheat oven to 350F.  grease your loaf pan(s)

2.) mix flour, baking soda, and baking soda in the largest of the mixing bowls.

3.) in one of the smaller mixing bowls, smash your bananas.  i used a potato smasher, but you could easily use even just a fork

4.) in your third bowl, cream together your margarine and brown sugar.  add the eggs and beat them in.  add this mixture to the smashed bananas and mix well.  add vanilla to this mix.

5.) add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until moistened.

6.) pour evenly into the loaf pans.

7.) mix together the streusel topping, by creaming together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and sugar with the butter.  sprinkle over the top of the loaves.

8.) bake at 350F for about an hour, or until an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.  let cool before eating.


time: 20 minuets prep, 60 minutes bake
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦1/2◊◊ (3.5 out of 5 stars)
suggestions for variation:  i am not a big fan of crunchy surprises in my breads, but if you want to add crushed walnuts or something, i'm sure that would be an ok addition.


enjoy :o)
-kl

021: birthday fun!

so today is my friend tyler's 20th birthday, and tyler is absolutely obsessed with all apple products. so what better way to celebrate his birthday than to make him an apple [logo shaped] cake?? well, maybe throw in a taco bar, playing super mario (super nes, of course) projected to take up an entire wall, some fantastic party games, and awesome friends and you've got yourself a party! happy 20th, bud :o) anyway, back to the CAKE!


now this baby was a double layered cake and took a 3 day process to make. despite that, it was not difficult at all, only time-consuming. i guess i cheated, because i used cake mixes and store-bought frosting. you are allowed to give up now and call me a fraud, but i hope you'll stick it out.


equipment:
9x13 pan
cooling rack
cutting boards
sharp knife
frosting (butter) knife
cup of HOT water


ingredients:
2 boxes of cake mix (i used one chocolate and one yellow)and their respective mixing ingredients
3 cans of frosting (white)
food coloring


steps:

the reason needed 2 boxes of cake mix is that tyler's favorite is marble cake. it is almost impossible to shape a marble cake, so to get the same marble taste, we went for 2 layered cake. i began with the chocolate on the bottom and added yellow cake to the top so as to mess up the coloring of the frosting less (yellow cake offers a more blank palate than does chocolate).

i began by making a 9x13 pan of chocolate and greased the WHOLE pan and sides really well. i baked it according to the instructions on the box, and let it cool for about an hour. i then put a cooling rack on top of the 9x13 pan, held it in place and flipped the whole cake pan over onto the cooling rack without the 2 ever losing contact. this makes it easier to flip onto another surface later, as well as serving to let it squash down a little bit so your cake isn't quite so tall. after this fully cooled, i used the same process to flip it back into the 9X13, and then again into a cutting board (i used white to be a blank palate). i just cut the cake to fit onto the cutting board without discarding too much cake. after this, i wrapped the cake and cutting board in saran wrap and refrigerated it overnight.

the exact same process was used for the yellow cake, and this went onto a second cutting board, though this one doesn't matter regarding color or material, as the cake will eventually get transferred on top of the chocolate one.

i then took both cakes out of the fridge and frosted the chocolate one (i just kept this frosting white) on top to act as the congealing layer between the two cakes. transferring the yellow cake on top of the chocolate one was probably the hardest part of the whole process, and i ended up using a slow slide and transfer process, though i think freezing the yellow cake might work better so as to be able to get a firm grip on it without fear of it breaking or crumbling apart, which is the trouble i was facing.

the final product, but for an idea of the layering involved

then i made a rough outline on the cake of an apple and mostly carved the corners away with a sharp knife, soaking it in a cup of HOT water in between every cut. this is a classic wedding cake trick to get the cleanest cut and get rid of any cake or frosting particles that you don't want in another area of your cake. so the apple shape was cut and all that remained was the leaf. i used the "bite" piece (cut after the whole apple shape was cut) as the leaf, as they are essentially the same shape. this i had to prop up with toothpicks, but i later frosted over them and warned the person who ate the leaf about them so they wouldn't choke and die, haha.

then it was time to frost. i did this in two layers--one as a rough covering and one as a finished layer. looking back on it, i could have done the first layer in white and not worried about the coloring yet, but i did not know at the time that it would take two layers to look good. so i just used food coloring to dye my white frosting and put it in the proper locations to cover both the sides and the top of the cake. *TIP: put the cake in the freezer for a few minutes (20 or so) before you start this process, as it will be much easier to frost, and also do this (10 minutes or so) in between every color change.* i also froze it for about half an hour before starting the second layer, and then kept it refrigerated until it was served. this was the time consuming part, but none of it was hard.

anyway, it was a major hit at the party. to cut it i again used my sharp knife and hot water and cut it like a wedding cake. everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the reaction was more than worth the tediousness of the effort!

020: greek influences

why hello there! once again, it has been an absurdly long time since i've gotten to do this, again because of travel. for one, finals. then my winter break was jam-packed! my boyfriend came up from florida to visit over christmas (his very first experience EVER with a white one!), and then my parents and i spent 3 weeks traveling in greece, before i went back down to florida for a week to visit james and his family. let me tell you, after a month in the 60s-70s that a greek/floridian december/january offer, the -8 that i woke up to this midwest morning hit me like a slap in the face. but if that's the only negative that comes from a month of travel, i'll take it!


traveling in greece opened me up to a lot of new flavor combinations, if not necessarily new cuisines. here are a few of my favorites:

1.) a green salad (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, all of the above, etc) with olive oil, lemon juice, and dill as its "dressing." i got very used to and comfortable with the olive oil, vinegar, and salt that the spanish use, but this combo offers a similar freshness. there will be a lot of tang in the flavor, and the dill (especially fresh) adds a fantastic full herb sensation. these can, of course, be in any proportion according to your own taste preferences, but if you like formulas, i'd do about equal parts olive oil and lemon juice and enough chopped dill to lightly cover the top of the salad.


2.) greek salad. this is not your typical green salad, as it is comprised solely of cut tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese. if you can't get fresh tomatoes, i'd avoid making this dish, as it is one of the central flavors, and its absence would ruin the dish. the tomatoes are cut into wedges, and the cucumbers in slices. you can either crumble the feta over the top, or, more traditionally, serve a big ol' slab of it over the top of the tomatoes and cucumbers, which are just mixed together. the only dressing on this dish is a sufficient amount of olive oil to coat the veggies, and then oregano over the top. sometimes we added lemon juice and/or salt to mix up the flavors a little bit, but it was always something nice and fresh to have with a meal.


3.) using fried potatoes in lieu of pasta, rice, or other starch. the greeks love their fried potatoes, and boy oh boy are they good! i would recommend beginning with heating olive oil in a skillet or sauce pan where the oil can be at least a good 3/4" deep. peel your potatoes, and cut them into either slices or wedges (slices will probably fry more evenly). when the olive oil is good and hot, put your cut and peeled potatoes into the oil (carefully! it will probably spit at you), and let them fry (remember to turn them so they cook evenly) until they are light brown. when they're done (they will be HOT! be careful!), you can do one of several things with them.

• serve them. this one sounds obvious, eh? but the really greek way of doing this is to serve them with a dash of balsamic vinegar or a spritz of lemon juice over them to give them a really fresh taste. they are also typically served unsalted, though oregano might be used instead. they make a great side to anything with which you would normally serve potatoes, french fries, rice, pasta, etc.
• use them as a base. these make a great thing over which to serve either meat or veggies (like eggplant, artichokes, peppers, okra, etc.) in a sauce. one of my favorites was roasted pork with bell peppers in a tomato sauce served over these potatoes instead of over rice or pasta.
• bake them. i think my favorite dish i had the entire 3 weeks abroad was a baked veal dish, where veal was baked together with these potatoes (yes, they had been fried before baked) with feta cheese as the congealing agent. the veal was diced over the top of the potatoes, and plenty of cheese was over the top, baked in a casserole and making almost a baked pasta hot dish, except, again, using the potatoes as the base starch.

get creative! there are all kinds of things you can do with potatoes. for a spanish equivalent, try my spanish omelette. it's a very similar concept and method, just in a different place along the mediterranean.


if you have any questions or would like some more specific instructions, leave a comment or email me. don't be afraid to experiment! happy cooking :o)
-kl

019: oyster chicken over couscous

this is a super fast, super easy asian-inspired chicken recipe. it can also be done with kielbasa as the protein, but this is just a bit healthier. since i usually do my cooking for one, this recipe yields 1-2 servings. expanding it would be easy and quite feasible.




equipment:
1 12" frying pan
spatula (heat resistant)
sauce pan
knife


ingredients:
olive oil
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. couscous
1/2 c. chopped red pepper
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1/2 c. oyster sauce


steps:
1.) heat a few teaspoons of olive oil frying pan, and add chicken strips. heat until fully cooked.

2.) while the chicken is cooking, begin boiling water for the couscous, and cook according to the directions on the box (i used 1/2 c. water, 1 t. olive oil, and 1/3 c. couscous)

3.) add chopped red pepper and red onion to chicken. cook until caramelized.

4.) add oyster sauce to chicken combo, and heat until sauce is warm.

5.) serve chicken with sauce hot over couscous.



time: 10 minutes cook time
difficulty: 1 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: use kielbasa as the protein


enjoy!
-kl

018: spinach alfredo pasta with italian sausage

so i had some leftover italian sausage from this recipe, and decided to take a page out of my boyfriend's mother's book and do a spin off a recipe she made. since i usually cook for one, these are the proportions i made for approximately 2-3 servings, though the recipe could feasibly be expanded easily to feed more. cook time was about 20 minutes.




equipment:
12" skillet
spatula (heat proof)
colander


ingredients:
2 italian sausage with spinach and mozzarella (i used something similar to this, though any italian sausage will suffice)
2 c. pasta (i used bowtie)
1 to 1 and 1/2 c. alfredo sauce (i cheated and used store-bought, though you can certainly make your own from scratch)
handful of fresh spinach
water


steps:
1.) heat italian sausage in 1/4" water in your skillet over medium heat.

2.) when your sausage is thoroughly heated, add the pasta to the skillet.

3.) add enough water (room temperature) to the skillet to cover the pasta. keeping the pasta cooking with the sausage adds fantastic flavor to the pasta itself.

4.) when the pasta is cooked (al dente), drain the excess water from the skillet using either the lid of the skillet or a colander.

5.) add the alfredo sauce over the top of the sausage and pasta in the skillet over low heat.

6.) when the sauce is warm, add the spinach and mix it in, just to the point where it starts to get tender. stir it all together and serve hot.



time: 20 minutes cook time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil to taste. try with mozzarella sprinkled on top?, vary types of sausage used


enjoy!
-kl

017: sundried tomato alfredo pasta with italian sausage

wahoo!!!! it has been many MANY moons since i made something original--going on 5 months now! but today i got back in my kitchen and feel better than i thought possible after creating this new recipe. i hope you enjoy it! prep time was about 5-10 minutes, and cook time is about 15-20. i made this for 2 and we had about a serving of leftovers, but it could reasonably be expanded to serve more. buon appetito!





equipment:
1 12" skillet
spatula (heat proof)
paring knife
2 quart sauce pan


ingredients:
3 T. olive oil
2 italian sausage with spinach and mozzarella (i used something similar to this, though really any italian sausage will do)
1/2 c. sliced red bell pepper
1/2 c. sliced red onion
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. basil
1 and 1/2 cups sundried tomato alfredo sauce (i used this)
1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes (i use the jarred ones in olive oil and herbs)
6 c. water
2 c. pasta (i used radiatore)
2 T. olive oil that the sun dried tomatoes were packed in


steps:
1.) heat 2 full sausages in olive oil in the skillet until warm. cut the full sausages into bite-sized pieces.

2.) while the sausages are cooking, slice your red pepper and red onion. add 1/2 c. of each to the sausage pieces. and garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil.

3.) begin boiling the water for the pasta. pour in some of the oil and herbs that were in the sun dried tomatoes so that the pasta itself picks up some flavor.

4.) when the water boils, add the pasta and cook according to instructions.

5.) cut your sun-dried tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.

6.) add alfredo over the top of the sausage mixture when onions are translucent. add sun-dried tomato pieces.

7.) drain pasta when it's done. add it to sausage and alfredo mixture and stir it all together.


time: 5-10 minutes prep time, 15-20 minutes cook time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦♦ (5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil to taste. try with mozzarella sprinkled on top?, vary types of sausage used


enjoy!
-kl