breathe and bake.: 2010

Coffee..

Mornings are fantastic ! Tiramisu flavored coffee is even more fantastic.

Tiramisu coffee with Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer is....

I have no words.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I am so uncreative. I have some pumpkin leftover from the chocolate chip pumpkin bars I made the other night (which were amazing, recipe to come). I could incorporateit into some yogurt.. or some oatmeal... but.. I don't really like either of the combinations too much. To be honest.. I'm not a Huge fan of oatmeal. Don't get me wrong.. it's food, it's nutty, I like it.. but I don't Love it. Why is this ? I do have to say that overnight oats with raisins are outstanding.. It only took me a year to make them.

Today was an old standby...

plain yogurt, an apple, some crushed wheat flakes, and cinnamon.

Obviously.. I ate some more flakes from the box post yogurt consumption.

Today.. I will train to be a waitress. I will get my nose pierced.

cole slaw

good cole slaw

1/2 head cabbage

2 apples

2 carrots

2 tbsp mayo

lemon juice (of one lemon)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp poppyseeds

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

salt/pepper

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 (minus 2 tbsp) white sugar

1/2 brown sugar

5 tbsp butter

2 tbsp shortening

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

(cream together)

mix together..

1 cup oats

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

mix all together

smash about a cup of peanut m&ms

mix in with dough

bake at 350 for 10 or 12 or whatever minutes

Banana Cream Pie.

Holy moly.

I just... I feel like my taste buds were just given a hand shake.

Listen to my tale.

There they were, four bananas, hanging from a... banana hanger. For days neglected. Easter made their existence unknown and/or forgotten. Spotty, they became. Into a pie, I made them.

Good story. Thanks.

For real, though. I debated on making some banana bread or some banana bars but... I felt a pie was in order because the last bananas I used in baking some bread didn't get eat. Pie stands no chance in my abode.

I found a few different recipes and just did what I thought best. And... nom nom nom. Ta-da.

Banana Cream Pie

yours truly.

Chocolate Cookie Crust...

1.5 (or so) cups of smushed chocolate cookies (I used a cheap off brand of oreo's. D-lish).

3 tbsp melted butter

mix it all together, press into a 9 inch pie plate, bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. take out and cool it.

ok?

Le Pie....

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups of milk

3 egg yolks

2 tbsp butter (or margarine)

1.5 tsp vanilla

3.5 ripe nanners

combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. add in the milk while whiskin...with a whisk. Do this until it thickens and almost begins to bubble. Take off the heat. Add a little bit of that into your three egg yolks that you've whisked previously in a small bowl. Then add that yolky mixture back into the pot. Cook for about 2 minutes on the heat again. Remove from heat. Throw in your vanilla and butter (or margarine) and mix it. Let it sit while you slice up your bananas.

Place a layer of slices bananas on top of your cooled crust. Mix in the remaining bananas with your puddin mixture (I kinda mashed mine all together. It was chunkay...yet... smooth). Pour atop your crust. Let it chill on the counter for like...30 minutes. Then cover it and put it in the fridge.

I topped mine with some leftover cookie crumbness goodness. When I ate a piece, I dolloped some whipped cream on that beach and ate it.

Seriously? Delicious. Why would I ever make a banana bread when I could make... a banana pie?

Also, I need to remind myself to not eat any kind of beans past a certain time. Say... 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I ate them as my taco filling last night about 7:30 and my stomach has been so.. Off since.

Word... to the wise. Don't eat beans past 2 !

Easter. & Why I love my mom.

Today was beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful.

I woke up at 7. Ate some fruit and yogurt. Got coffee and some cantaloup at Panera with my parents and headed to church. Today was the first time I've been to church in a long while (I need to change this). I went to my grandparents and spent the afternoon eating good foods and playing golf (or trying).

A cake was requested to be made by me from my grandmother, so bake a cake, I did.

I used this recipe by the Bakers Daughter.

It was perfect.

Except, I need to share with you a tip (incase you plan to make this cake).

let the dang thing cool in the pan.

I failed to leave it in the pan long enough and my first layer fell into two pieces. I was... mortified. Luckily, mom's are smart and wonderful and all knowing and...... she fixed it.

I just stood there, looking at it in complete aw. I walked away and when I came back, it was some-what together again on a nice place, with the other layer cooling on the rack in one perfect piece.

The pushed together layer was the bottom layer.. because my mom is amazing.

In addition to the Lemon Raspberry Cake, I baked some inside-out-carrot-cake-cookies, at the request of my father.

Everything was delicious. For lunch, I filled up on bean salad, vegetables, fruit, and a small portion of 3 desserts. When I said I filled up on, I mean I ate until I was content. On holidays like today when we have a gathering at my grandparents, I usually tend to over-indulge. Today, I avoided that and I'm feeling really good right about now. I could have done without the jellybeans, but.... it's Easter. Maybe it was a necessity. Maybe... it wasn't.

I woke up to a huge array of candy and some beautiful (deep purple) flowers. When I say huge array, I mean.... I'm almost certain it would take me at least (realistically speaking) 1.5 years to finish this on my own.

Good thing my dad loves candy. I wouldn't be surprised if the stash was clean in two weeks.

My grandparents live right across a field, so we headed home about five. I walked some left over cake to the neighbors and spent some time with Candy, looking around her garden (which is ridiculously beautiful. I want a peach tree).

I was just feeling the need for some green so I plated up some spinach, three spears of asparagus, and some salsa. I'm drinking coffee and watching the Lord Of the Rings. I ... am happy.

I wish days like this happened more often. Though, if they did, I'm not sure they'd be so desirable.

Peachy.

I really like a good peach, as opposed to.... a not good peach. I have a sixth sense about picking a good fruit. I really like ripened fruit because that's when it tastes the most... fruity. And that's what I want my fruit to taste like. Fruit.

I had 2 ripe peaches, 1 unripe peach, and three very ripe plums. So I made a random crumble. I mixed about 2 or so tablespoons of orange juice with the sliced up fruit (skins still on... cause I'm dangerous like that.... lazy like that). A tablespoon of cornstarch. A couple tablespoons of sugar.

I then mixed 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup oats. I then cut in 6 tablespoons of butter and spread it over the fruit (which I placed in a 9 inch pie dish). I baked it for about 40 minutes at 375.

I made this last night. Mom, dad, and myself enjoyed a piece. It's gone now.

I tried my first parsnip tonight. And it was from the ground.

.... what I mean is, it was from my neighbors garden (thank you, Candy).

I like putting cold, leftover roasted vegetables on my salads.

Like this one.

That's pretty. Of course, those are no parsnips, my friends.... those are sweet potatoes. And tomatoes. And..... I keep hearing Christmas music and it's throwing me off.

I need to write some more for English. I need to figure out what I'm making for Easter dessert. I need... a bath.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

Last night I was a Ninja.

What better to accompany a Ninja than a German Chocolate Cheesecake?

Unfortunately, this ninja failed to take a picture of the whole cheesecake.... and all of it's glory. In fact, that is what remains of the entire thing. I'm lucky to have this.... scratch that. It's being eaten by a family member as I type.

In addition to the cheesecake, I baked some carrot cake cookies, slapped some cream cheese frosting on the bottom and sandwiched another against it.

They were the first to go.

Anyhow, the cheesecake was fairly simple. I never put my cheesecakes in a water bath, however, every cheesecake I have ever baked has had a crack in them. So... lesson to this story... always put your cheesecakes in a water bath if you want them sans crack.

I need to post this recipe for all the world to see, for all the world to bake, for all the world.... to eat.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

recipe adapted from Food Editorials

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate sandwich cookies (crushed)

5 tbsp butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix crushed cookies with melted butter in a bowl. Spray the bottom of a 9 in. spring-form pan with Pam (or something like it) and press cookie mixture into the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Cheesecake:

24oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 - 4oz package of German Baking Chocolate (melted)

2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and the flour in large bowl, until well blended. Add chocolate and 2 tsp. of the vanilla; mix well.
2. Add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
3. Bake 45 to 50 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight to allow the cake to completely cool and set up.

Pecan-Coconut Topping:

1/3 cup canned evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg
3/4 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup pecans, chopped (toasted)

Combine milk, sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in small saucepan; cook on medium-low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool. Spread over cheesecake just before serving. Remember to store any leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

It says spread the filling on right before you're going to serve but I put the topping on about 6 hours before serving and just kept it sealed and in the fridge. This way, everything was set in and.. and stuff.

I also melted some chocolate chips and whizzed (word?) it over the top and put it in the fridge to get hard. Twas......perfect.

my banana cake +oatmealraisincookies

enough for one 8 inch round pan.

oven at 360.

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons applesauce

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder & baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

cinnamon, clove, nutmeg

mix and pour in pan for about 20 minutes... i forgot. just watch it until it comes away from the edge.

peanut butter glaze

3 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp milk

1/4 cup powdered sugar

melt peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl until.. melty. about 40 seconds.

mix milk and sugar in. should be a little thick. spread on cake. sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

COOKIES.

oven at 350.

1 stick of butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

vanilla

^cream together.

mix...

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

mix the dry into the cream mixture with a fork, until just mixed.

mix in 1 1/2 cup rolled oats and 3/4 cup or whatever of raisins

roll into little balls, put on stone.

in a seperate bowl, make some mixings (for instance, i used coconut, pieces of pecans, and more raisins)... i then took a little and pushed them on top of the unbaked cookies.

then i baked them for almost 15 minutes.

breathe and bake.

Blog Archive

About Me

Blog Archive

Coffee..

cole slaw

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

Banana Cream Pie.

Easter. & Why I love my mom.

Peachy.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

my banana cake +oatmealraisincookies

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