a much needed night out...

so i had a day off, and another wonderful day with someone visiting from hawaii! russ was visiting from hawaii to interview for a job up in portland. luckily for me that meant more food experiences!! we were trying to figure out where to eat for dinner and hopefully make it in time for a decent happy hour, i had hoped we would get to check out this place called Miss Delta on Mississippi in northeast portland, but since time was running short jen suggested we check out podnah's...

this is the front of podnah's and my friend russ, charming isn't he? i thought the name of the place was very deceiving. seemingly indian, yet southern bbq...intriguing...^_^

we sat in the back of the restaurant where they have an outdoor picnic bench type of set-up. i actually prefered it, not only because it was a beautiful day, but also because it set a nice feeling of being at a family bbq. there was a large group right next to our picnic table, i believe they were from wisconsin, and i couldn't help but smile...(i lived in wisconsin from the time i was about 10 to 17)...it reminded me of one of my original homes^_^. well back to the food, i love pork ribs, like SERIOUSLY LOVE THEM!! and i can't help but order them when i go to any southern food place, call it boring if you like, but i like to say i like to compare and contrast^_~ seriously though, if you order the same thing time and time again to start to really tell the difference between the way it was prepared. was it smokey? was it tender? was there too much bbq sauce? all relevant questions in the search for the ultimate rib^_~ these ribs, were tangy and delicious, definitely tender and not too much sauce, really tasty, and the collard greens, cornbread, and potato salad weren't a bad addition either! so good!!

obviously i was VERY HAPPY with my food!

PECAN PIE!! TO DIE FOR!! that disappeared all too quickly! which led us to our next stop...

that's right, we went to a tiki bar of all places fully accompanied by the tiki men, leis, etc! i'm sorry but i really loved this place and i don't care who thinks it is crazy, we had a good time and a strong drink....

behold...the VOLCANO BOWL^_^ a drink, with a surprisingly cinnamony and milky flavor...very yummy, and like the pecan pie, it quickly disappeared^_~...

overall, we had a good time. good friends, good food, and good drinks...a successful night on the town in portland^_^

blueberried out!!

i think this will be my last blueberry creation for a while! i think i am completely blueberried  out!! if only my parents would stop picking so many so i don't feel inclined to make something with them! but, i do. and it is always so mouth wateringly good, that i just can;t stop. i'm a slave to the blueberry and its antioxident goodness>_< well enough of my rants and on to the CAKE! my friend jordan had been telling me how he has been trying to perfect his cheesecake for a while now. his had been getting cracks, but he continuously made it, not only for himself, but for friends, family, etc. well, his passion for the cheesecake inspired me to try one. oddly enough, one morning while i was enjoying my oatmeal with blueberries(yes, they are eaten A LOT in my household) and bananas i stumbled upon a recipe in the paper that had apparently won an award. so i thought, "hey, why not give it a try!" lucky for me i have the coolest foodie aunt EVER, who had just bought me the best spring form pan set the week before! thanks again auntie liane! so i set to work gathering the things i needed. slowly chipping away at the gallon sized bags of blueberries that are sitting in our freezer, i set to work. first was the sauce...

the sauce was a little tricky for me, because the recipe calls for it to be put in a food processor for a while and then placed over a heat, but it came out kinda flat, and i LOVE chunks of blueberries in my sauce, so i added a few extra at the end for good measure^_^

next, preparing the crust. i think i actually over processed the graham crackers in the food processor and will opt to just hand crush them next time. by the end of it all, i feel like it was a little too dense, and not as crumbly as i would have liked it to be, side note for next time...

mmmmmm filling!!

swirling the blueberry sauce in layers!! this part was fun and artsy for me!!

ready for the oven!!

the cool down!! after it cools it had to sit in the fridge overnight...more waiting!!

FINALLY!! the next morning i was so impatient i ate it for breakfast!! the inside was creamy and not too thick, the crust was a good contrast to the cream, and the blueberries, well, they were just the tang that it all needed!! overall a great recipe and great first try!!

BLUEBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE
For the sauce:
12 ounces frozen blueberries, thawed
1 T sugar
1 T water
1 1/2 t cornstarch

For the crust:
1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter or margarine melted

For the filling: 
3 packages (8-ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1/4 c lemon juice
Blueberry sauce

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• in a food processor or blender, process the blueberries, sugar, water, and cornstarch until blended. 
• transfer to a heavy saucepan; bring to boil. 
• reduce heat; cook and stir over medium heat for 2 min. until thickened. 
• set aside 6 T of sauce for the filling of the cake. and refrigerate the rest for the topping.
• combine crust ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9-inch greased spring form pan; set aside
• in a mixing bowl beat mix the cream cheese and milk until smooth.
• add the eggs; beat on low until just combined. 
• add lemon juice and beat until just blended. 
• pour half of the filling over the crust; top with half the reserved berry topping. repeat layers. 
• cut through filling with a knife to swirl. 
• place on baking sheet. 
• bake for 40-45 min or until center is almost set. 
• cool on wire rack for 10 min. carefully run a knife around the edges to loosen and cool 1 hour longer.
• refrigerate overnight.
• remove the sides of the pan and serve chilled with blueberry sauce!!^_^

$$$ cookie recipe for elianna

my cousin elianna is going to germany for a study abroad semester. i am so proud of her for traveling the world! and i know she will have a great time, but i wanted to get this recipe to her before she left, or at least have it up so she can make them while in germany. and why not share it with the rest of the internet world why i am at it^_~

preheat oven to 325 degrees
makes about 7 1/2 dozen


1 cup butter
1 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup oats (i don't use instant)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (i use pecans and i toast them first, and then chop them myself)
1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips (i tried it with whole chips and it was a bit too chocolately for me, i know how can anything be too chocolately?! but it really was, so i chopped them up and they came out WONDERFUL!!)
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

• cream butter, oil, both sugars, egg, and vanilla
• in a separate bowl mix all other ingredients
• roll into walnut sized balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.(you dont need the parchment but i ALWAYS use parchment paper, less of a clean up^_~)
• so the recipe says to flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in water, but i just use my hand. it works just as well. 
• bake at 325 degrees for about 12-15 min.
• enjoy!!^_^

this is a great recipe, not only because it is simple but, also because these cookies make a great gift! especially if you are sending them to someone. they stay crispy and have a semi-shortbread consistency but not the heavy shortbread butter flavor.i hope the recipe works out for you eli! and have a great time in germany!!

which came first?

which came first? the chicken or the egg? in this case, neither! again we had some family visiting, i think it has been a frequent thing for the past few months. well, one of my cousins that was was visiting, kelsey, is vegan. for those of you who do not know what it means to be "vegan" i will fill you in. basically its being "a vegetarian who omits all animal products from their diet"(so says dictionary.com). very interesting idea. even more interesting the many baked goods you can make without dairy products!! in addition to this cake, we also got to make a blueberry crumble pie, which i admit did not turn out as well as i had hoped:-p but, you live and learn...anyways, back to the cake. this recipe actually came from my lovely sister...

this is  my sister corie^_^

well, back to the story...she had sent me those cards of recipes that i had never gotten around to. i had made the banana muffin one, that i had to tweak to make more appetizing. and i had seen the one for a chocolate cake that was vegan, however, until kelsey showed up i had never made it! BIG MISTAKE!! well, when i was working my cousin and family ended up making it, kelsey also added a vegan frosting that was so yummy!! when i got home i tried it and i was pretty blown away! so i had to make it again! i actually wanted to make it for my workers and see if they could tell the difference between a regular cake and this one, call me a sneaky boss^_~ but this is basically the breakdown...

best cocoa powder to bake with!

all the dry ingredients...

all the wet, no eggs^_^

mix and bake...

OoOoOoOoOO...

frosting time!!

mix! and...

spread...i couldn't wait till it cooled! i had to have some! YUM YUM YUM!!^_^

i had to add this in there too! i went to sur la table again with my auntie liane when she was in town. bought myself some heavy duty baking sheets, and i got an early birthday present!! a set of three spring form pans, thanks auntie liane!!!^_^ you know what this means?! cheesecake to follow soon!!^_^

CAKE RECIPE:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

grease a 9x13 baking dish

3 cups flour

1/2 cocoa powder

1 t. salt

2 t. baking soda

2 cups sugar

2 T. vinegar

3/4 cup oil

2 cups cool water

• mix flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and sugar together in large bowl
• in separate bowl mix vinegar, oil and cool water
• while mixing add the wet ingredients to the dry ones till just incorporated
• pour batter in dish and bake for about 40 min. depending on the strength of your oven
• take out and let cool completely before pour frosting on top^_^

CHOCOLATE FROSTING RECIPE: (i only used half of this recipe to cover my cake and it actually was a good amount, but if you are a frosting fiend more power to you in using the whole recipe^_~)

1/2 cup shortening (i used earth balance)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup soy milk

1 t. vanilla extract

1 1/2 t. almond extract

• combine cocoa and shortening 
• add in powdered sugar, soy milk, and extracts. 
• beat for about a minute, or until good consistency. pour over cooled cake^_^

Just to follow up, my workers couldn't even tell the difference and some of them even asked for the recipe!! i'm glad it was such a hit!

the list...

so i have a list going of friends that i like to send care packages to (actually its just people who i have actually gotten addresses from). i am SLOWLY getting through all of them, however, on this last day off i decided to just knock a couple off all at once. i basically went on a complete baking spree!! i had told a friend of mine that i would make him some bread, so i decided on a banana bread. i also wanted to make another friend some cookies, so i decided on a recipe my auntie rina had given me when she was in town..."$$$ cookies" is what she calls them. and finally, i made blondies, because they are just so great!!^_^ so i set to work...along the way i decided that i was going mix things up a bit, something you can easily tell i enjoy doing, and also because it gets boring following the same recipe all the time, so why not experiment!? i had always mad the banana bread very simply, no nuts, no added anything, VERY BORING! well, on my tour through the cordon bleu school i had tried a girl's banana bread and she had put chocolate and nuts in it. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?!  well, i had made it with chocolate chips before, but i think the chips, although small, were a bit too much still, so i chopped them up even smaller. so i attempted to do it myself. i had leftover toasted pecans and some chopped up chocolate chips from the cookies so i threw them in...

mashed banana, chopped pecans, and chopped chocolate chips...

i hope he and his wife enjoy the bread^_^

with the first round of cookies i had made after my aunt had left me the recipe i had the same problem of chocolate chips that were just too large. don;t get me wrong in chocolate chip cookies i love the chips and i wish there were LOADS of them, but when you have them competing with so many other added flavors, you want to tone it done a bit. so i chopped them up, and made them as uniform as i could for packaging purposes. mmmm cookies hope my friends enjoy them!^_^ 

finally! the best one! i had actually always loved making blondies. i think it was because i had never really heard of them or known about them when i had grown up, sure you hear about chocolate chip cookies, and regular brownies, but blondies? my point exactly^_~ well, i had found a recipe by emril about a year or two ago, i made my own little tweeks to make the inside a bit more dense and threw in some white chocolate chips just for good measure...pre-baked goodness...

i hope the overnight team back at my old store appreciate this one^_~

basically by the end of it i was baked out, if that is even possible...but i am happy to have FINALLY sent the goodies to my good friends^_^ miss you guys!