Party! (On a budget)

The holidays are here! That means shopping and parties and general stress all around. Its only as stressful as you make it. Seriously. You can throw a great holiday party without going over your budget or breaking the bank. Its not as hard as it sounds, its all about knowing where you get the best bang for your buck. Obviously if you’re on a budget you aren’t going to be serving Kobe beef. (On a side note, Kobe beef is illegal in the USA. If you go to a high end restaurant and see Kobe beef on the menu, its not real). That being said, you don’t have to serve canned tuna either. There are ways to throw a great party on a budget and have it be a huge success. Let me show you how.

The Great Pancake Debate

To make from scratch or to buy a box of batter, that is the question that weighs on the minds of the breakfast lover. Personally, I like to buy a box of mix. Making pancakes from scratch is a bit tedious and they don’t turn out any better than if you use the mix. In fact, they can turn out much much worse. The problem with making them from scratch is all the sifting. You have to sift the dry ingredients at least twice if not more, otherwise you end up with a very very dense pancake that doesn’t taste very good. The benefit of making them from scratch is you can do some creative things to the batter itself. When you use a box mix, you can add things like chocolate chips and fruits to the batter but you can’t really change the batter itself without compromising its texture. Time to explore the wonderful world of pancakes.

Pasta for Breakfast

As an Italian, there are certain things I enjoy the bother some people. They don’t understand my inextinguishable lust for neck bones, when I talk about making gravy they think its something you put on mashed potatoes, snicker when I talk about cuccidati, and become confused when I say I want a lobster tail for dessert. By far the most humorous reaction is when I make breakfast pasta. Most people think of pasta as something for dinner, maybe even lunch, but it is a wonderfully diverse food that can be used for almost anything. Today we explore pasta for breakfast. 

Learning from the experience

As I sit down to type this I’m questioning whether or not I should. I would loved to be seen as the perfect little kitchen dweller who makes everything with great success. Why would I want to ruin my “street cred” as it were? Yet, here I am preparing to share a somewhat embarrassing baking blunder I made. I’ve been cooking and baking for years, I should not be making these basic mistakes. However, I think its important to share these things because no matter how much experience you gain, failures are bound to happen now and then. Thankfully I don’t experience them often. I’m not going to pretend I’m a true professional. I didn’t go to school for cooking and baking. I studied business and accounting. I didn’t even take foods in high school for my home economics requirement, I took clothing and textiles. You don’t need to take a class or study under some renown chef to learn how to cook. I’m sure it helps and is an invaluable experience, but it isn’t required. All you need to do is experiment and learn from your mistakes. So today I’m going to share mine and how I learned from them.

Better Than Sex Cake?

Yesterday I made my fiance his belated birthday cake. His actual birthday was last Friday, but I didn’t have the energy or the time to make a cake for him that day. We had a nice family breakfast, enjoyed one another’s company, played with the kids, and went out to the bar for some karaoke and drinks with friends. Where in there was I supposed to make a cake? I was going to make it over the weekend but we both got sick, effectively destroying our plans for our fancy pants party on Michigan Avenue and then a bonfire in the boonies with a few friends. By Monday we were both feeling fine and back to our normal schedules, I even made breakfast again.

A fast “fancy” breakfast

I’ve often noticed that the only time people eat a decent breakfast is when they go out to Ihop after a night of partying. I take issue with this since there are some great breakfast options that can be done in ten minutes or less and they taste great. I have a baby to take care of and every morning when I make her breakfast I see what she eats. Its usually a bowl of oatmeal or cream of wheat with some fruit and milk. Then I look at what my little brother eats for breakfast. Its a pop-tart. This drives me up the wall. It takes about ten minutes to make french toast and scrambled eggs, and if I’m in a good mood I take out my big pan and make some bacon. I don’t care how busy you are everyone can find ten minutes to make breakfast. It takes my coffee pot fifteen minutes give or take to brew. By the time my coffee is done I have a wonderful breakfast and a fresh cup of coffee to start my day. Let’s look into one of these breakfasts.

Know Your Oils and a Quick Technique to Master

Again, I apologize for the long delay. Sick people, doctors visits, fancy holiday party to prepare for, baby’s first Halloween … Its been nuts! And its not over yet, but seeing as I have found a few minutes I thought about what I could write. I decided to go with something simple, good to know, and useful. So today I want to take a few minutes to talk about something we all have in our kitchens but maybe don’t know exactly the best way to utilize. Oil.