Portillo’s Chocolate Eclair Cake

Today I’m bringing you something so simple a child could do it. Literally guys, if you have kids get them in the kitchen to do this with you. Its very straight forward, no bake, no huge mess, nothing to worry about. Keep on reading to get the scoop (or shall I say slice)!

Pamper the chef

When you begin to cook seriously you truly understand the importance of washing your hands thoroughly and constantly. Particularly if you’re going to do something like make your own root beer. I did that once as a project in my AP Chemistry class. Never again. That horrible experience taught me a hugely important lesson. Wash your hands. Use anti-bacterial/anti-microbial soap, lather up real well, get up to your wrists and under your nails, and sing “Happy Birthday” twice while you’re doing it. (That last part I learned from my aunt, an RN). I’ve learned to take many precautions while cooking. Not only can the bacteria on your hands make someone (or yourself) very sick, it can dramatically change the outcome of your dish. Today I’d like to go over some basic cooking sanitation precautions, and how to undo the damage all that soap and hot water can do to your hands.

Bacon wrapped, stuffed dates

With the passing of my Grandmother came the gifts. Most of them were flowers, some of them were dried fruit. I was grateful for all of them, however you can only put so many lilies in a house before the air becomes so dense you can barely breathe. Naturally I was especially pleased by the gift of dried fruit and nuts. I love food gifts. Something so necessary and useful, occasionally beautiful, really does make the perfect gift. Particularly when someone is grieving and less inclined to shop or cook for themselves. Make note here, one of the kindest things you can do for someone who is grieving is offer to come over and cook dinner or ask if they need some help with minor housework. It makes all the difference in the world. My mother in law knew this, and sent me more dried fruit and nuts than I knew what to do with. It sustained me when I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than take care of the baby, and now its influencing my day to day cooking and baking. Enter, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with asiago cheese.

Peppermint Twist Cookies

I apologize for my absence. It has been a very long and trying couple of weeks. My Grandmother had a stroke two days after my last post and I lost her on Friday. Needless to say I have been very busy with my family and trying to keep everything in order as best as possible. I will probably be absent again over the next week as we make final arrangements and host a wake and funeral. Once again I apologize, the timing of this could not be worse. I’ve made it a miniature mission to help everyone prepare for the Holidays and the endless family gatherings and parties that ensue. I had mentioned about a month ago that I got a book full of holiday cookie recipes. Today I’m going to share my favorite. The Peppermint Twist Cookie.

Baking with Soda!

I will be forever in debt to the person who figured out you can bake with soda. My early first attempts (making a rainbow caking using diet sprite with friends) were horrible. They tasted pretty bad, they looked even worse. Using soda to make a cake mix is tricky business. Its not as simple as following package directions. You need to know what works and what doesn’t. Most of the time they don’t set right and they almost always stick to the wrapper, even if you use the more expensive parchment wraps. This doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious when prepared the right way, it just means they take a little more effort. The other day I made two types of soda cupcakes and today we’re going to take a look at what needs to be done.

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.