Winter? What's Winter?

Subject line has nothing to do with anything, ok I'm kidding. It's the middle of winter and what warms you up better than a nice piping hot bowl of soup? Well, this month's challenge is not soup, or stew or anything like that.

This month's challenge is chicken AND biscuits. Not chicken or biscuits. Chicken and biscuits. Crispy, juicy delicious chicken. Flaky, soft buttery delicious biscuits. The combination that can't be beat.

Try different breading, panko, pulverized cereal, honey, hot sauce, but make it delicious ...

Deadline Feb 28th, 2010.

Finally...Fudge!

Many moons after the deadline, here is my post. I bring to you peanut butter and chocolate swirled fudge. PB and chocolate are one of my top favorite flavor combos. I could eat it daily.

Recipe:

1/2 cup butter

2 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup peanut butter (i chose creamy but i'm sure crunchy would be delish)

1 tsp vanilla (i used a combo of extract and vanilla bean)

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Melt butter then add the brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil stirring frequently. Let it boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla. Pour mixture into confectioners sugar and blend. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into 8x8 pan and chill.

The result is delicious. Matt, who doesn't like fudge, liked this kind. I kept a few pieces for us, but boxed up the rest to be sent to a friend. Better on his thighs than mine.

Packing Fudge

i used this recipe but added a bit of melted white chocolate on top to make it all marble-y. you know, cus it's kinda fancy looking etc.

this chocolate goodness tho, was not was for me to consume. all this chocolate-y goodness was sent to a friend for his birthday.

grow that ass.

And the kitchen sink!

Ok, first off, I've been really busy and sick in bed therefore my posting is 3 days behind - yet I'm still the FIRST to post?!?!

Second off, this challenge turned out to be a challenge. Not because the topic was hard, but was to pick to put into my fudge! Recipe was simple:

10 oz White chocolate chips
8 oz Milk chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp Vanilla
1 stick butter
4 peanut butter cups chopped
6 oreos chopped
1 cup of sugar

Combine all the ingredients except for the oreos and peanut butter cups into a saucepan and bring to a very gentle simmer, and then turn it down to low. Let simmer for 10-15 mins until the mixture is utterly smooth. Turn OFF heat and take off stove, let cool for 30 mins, occasionally stirring the mixture. After 30 mins, add in peanut butter cups and oreos. (I was going to add marshmallows too, but I didn't) Combine thoroughly and then pour into a baking sheet to set.

Challenge: Fudge

Make different flavors, colors, whatever. Make it interesting. I've never made it from scratch so who knows what will happen. And if you don't like fudge, it's a great office gift for someone (or you can send to charlotte!!).

Due date: Dec 31.

Good luck!

Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Halloween starts the holiday sugar fest for me. When pumpkin was decided for this challenge, I knew the result would be something sweet coming out of my oven.

I bent the rules. I made a pumpkin cake, but it's not made of pumpkin....it IS a pumpkin!

The flavor is a basic spice cake baked in a bundt pan. The icing is maple syrup flavored. Basically, it's a package of cream cheese, 1/2 stick of butter, four cups of powdered sugar, and maple syrup....(not Aunt Jemima)....i probably used 3 or 4 tablespoons. Any more and it would be too runny.

Obviously I tinted the icing. I used my red and yellow tubes....then threw in a dollop of my orange paste. The paste really adds more depth in color. For the stem I used an ice cream cone....the kind you don't like to eat because they taste like styrofoam. I piped the green lines which I hope gives it a more round look.

I'm taking it to work tomorrow. I secretly hope that the icing turns everyone's teeth orange.

Until next time fellow doorknobs...keep those ovens and buns hot!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Bowlful of Fall: Pumpkin Gnocchi & Wilted Kale

like my cousin, i am not a fan of pumpkin. pumpkin pie makes me suicidal. ok, not really but i don't like the stuff. i've played with pumpkin before, making a soup and challah. when i decided to make pumpkin be this month's challenge, it was my intention to celebrate the coming autumn season (even tho i lament the cold), but also to play with an ingredient i normally avoid.

i went with pumpkin gnocchi, figuring that the pumpkin flavor wouldn't be overwhelming. i know Pat already did gnocchi for the roll challenge but whatever. i also decided to incorporate another ingredient i don't usually play with: kale. tis the season, yo. the finished product turned out well, the gnocchi wasn't too pumpkin-y, the kale was mild and a perfect complement to the gnocchi. success!



Wilted Kale

for this portion of the recipe, it's my typical angry asian style of dumping whatever is in my fridge into the pan.

a bunch of kale, cleaned and rough chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
handful of shiitake mushroom, sliced
a few sprigs of thyme
olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
lemon juice

in a large pan, heat up the olive oil. add in the onions and sautee till translucent. throw in the garlic and mix around, be sure not to burn it. add in the kale and maybe a splashful of water. i pulled some thyme leaves off the stem and added that too. i cooked this for about 20 minutes, or until i finished making the gnocchi, making sure to add a spoonful of water every now and again. at the last minute, i threw in the mushrooms.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin, either fresh or from a can
1 large egg yolk
12 Tbl flour, i divied it up 6 AP, 6 Whole Wheat

mix together the pumpkin puree and egg yolk in a medium sized bowl. add half the flour until incorporated. slowly add the rest of the flour, by tablespoon, until a dough forms. on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for a few minutes. if the dough is still too sticky, add more flour, but a little at a time. when it doesn't stick to everything anymore, divide the dough into four balls. roll them out, into snake-like formations. with a dough cutter, (i don't have one, i used my pizza cutter), cut out little 1-2" pieces. i've seen gnocchi with cute indentions and whatever on them. i wasn't interested in that, i was hungry...

to cook the gnocchi, bring a pot of water to boil. add about a tablespoon of salt. cook the gnocchi in batches. when they're first put into the pot, they sink right to the bottom but when they're cooked, they float up to the surface. easy.

add to the pan of kale and allow to mix thru.

to serve, i added a splash of lemon juice. separately, the kale came out great, i would've been happy to nibble on it sans gnocchi, which turned out nice too. but together, it was lovely. just like autumn in a bowl.