Are you ready for some football?

Saturday was UTs first home football game, and the event was not going to go off without some sort of celebration. There was a gathering of sorts (normally I call these things tailgates, but recently someone has gotten very angry with my description of tailgates not being actually in a truck in a parking lot) So, I guess it was a BBQ. Full of people all in their burnt orange. All with tickets to the game. Who all walked over to the game together. A tailgate.

Anyway, a celebration of this magnitude required some new and delicious snacks. I'd recently scored a Rachel Ray magazine in the airport (ok, recently, the end of July), but it takes me a long time to get through all the things I like in her magazine. So far I've made three DELICIOUS dishes.

The first one was some simple couscous. You cook some couscous, garlic flavored if you dare. To it you add about a cup of chopped dried apricots, dried cranberries, golden raisins, chopped green onions and crumbled feta cheese. Oh boy, it couldn't be simpler. Or more delicious. I did not bring this to the football game, but I did debut it for a friends birthday back in August.

Next I tried some potato salad. I didn't really follow the recipe all that well, because I didn't have some things - like fennel. At first I had to google image search what fennel was so I could figure out where in the store to find it. And then when I found it, it was going to cost me a whopping $5. And something I saw on google suggested that it tasted like black licorice. No thanks. So I've modified the recipe. But, it's so delicious. You quarter (or eighth, seriously, who can eat a quarter of a potato) small red potatoes, and cover them with just enough water and salt (the salt in the water is key, according to one of my roommates who thinks my food needs more salt in it). Boil these and let them cook until they are soft, but not mushy. Then you combine 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and 3 finely chopped green onions. The first time I made this I had some asparagus, so I cut the tips and sauteed them a little in a pan and added those to the potatoes when they were done. The second time, I added nothing. Like I said, I didn't use fennel. I used dill. And what seemed like a bunch. I'm not sure how much. I kept sprinkling and stirring it into the dijon mixture, until it tasted good. Then you combine the potatoes and the dijon mix, and stir it up. And, good lord, it's delicious. This was debuted during a boat adventure on Lake Travis, and remade for the football game. Both times, it was a huge hit. Added bonus, for those of you who are interested - this dish is also vegan.

And for my last recipe attempt, and I must say the most fun, I tried beer-battered green beans with a tarragon aioli sauce. I was a little afraid of the beer-battering, but this was so much fun. First it was 2/3 cup of beer (I think I threw in a little extra for good luck, but they did taste beer-y, so maybe a whole can/bottle is too much. I didn't use the whole thing, a girl needs something to drink while she cooks!) 1/2 cup flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Let this sit there for a bit. Then I made the aioli, which was a whole lot of mayonnaise, tarragon (I used dried), dijon, garlic and salt and pepper. I really just kept putting stuff in and tasting, until it tasted good and I had a quantity that seemed appropriate.

Then, for the frying! I used about 2.5 cups of vegetable oil in a pan and turned the burner to high. I stuck a candy thermometer in there, to gauge the temp - RR says get it to 375. This happened quite quickly. When it's starting to hiss and sputter you're basically there. I dropped a small bit of batter in, and it formed a ball and floated to the top sizzling. That means I'm good. I whisked the batter a little bit more, and I threw my washed and trimmed green beans in. I stirred them around a few times to get them nice and coated. I dropped them into the oil in smallish batches, and the batches all tended to clump together - which actually made for easy flipping. I tried to flip them after about 2 minutes, and took them out when they were golden in color. They were probably lighter than golden. I let them dry off on a paper towel.

Sadly, because I live in Texas where it is hotter than hades, I then put them in a tupperware container and in the fridge. Next time, I will not do this. They got a little soggy. Or, they were just crispier before going in the fridge. But, they still tasted great - and were a crowd favorite. Also, without the aioli to dip in, these are vegan (right? I don't see anything vegan-offensive in there).

These three recipes are so terribly simple, and so delicious, I'm sure to make them again and again...and again!

Impromptu Pizza, sort of

While at Trader Joes one day, I picked up some of their fabulous herb pizza dough and pesto among other things. A few days later, I still didn't have a specific plan per say for the pizza, but my mother in-law was over, we were hungry, so I whipped something together.

I didn't have any tomato sauce and didn't want to use ALL pesto for the sauce since I already had the super flavorful herb dough. I did have some cherry tomatoes, probably left-over from the frittata in the post below, and red onions, so I sauteed those up with some olive oil, salt, pepper, dry basil, and garlic powder. When it was saucy and cooked, I stirred in some of the pesto and cooked it for another minute or so. I rolled out the dough, brushed olive oil on the crust, and spread my tomato, onion, and pesto mixture onto the rest. on top of this, I added whatever shredded cheese I had in the fridge. I think it was a mix of Mexican blend, mozzarella, and cheddar. On top of this I put some chopped green bell pepper and a bunch of fresh baby spinach (also, left over from the frittata. . . ). I baked it up and it was REALLY GOOD. I think sometimes the best meals are born when you're not prepared and need to use what you've got!! Mmmmmm.

Anyone for brunch??

Okay, are you still with me? There's yet more catching up to do!

I had some friends over for brunch a few weeks ago and made my first frittata! I'm not a HUGE egg fan, something Jenni and I have in common, but did want to give this a try. It's a Spinach and Potato Frittata that I added cherry tomatoes to. I also used at least double the amount of spinach that this recipe calls for and had to finish it off in the oven because it didn't set on the stove. Oh, and don't forget the salt! It needs it. Scott ate it, like most things, with ketchup, and really liked it.
















For this brunch party (and also for my own brunch birthday party in February!) I made Baked French Toast. Holy holy, this is good stuff. I make it with ONE stick of butter instead of two (OH Paula. . . ) and double the cinnamon in both the casserole as well as in the topping. No syrup needed. Delish!

German Chocolate Cake!!

About a month ago, I made my first German Chocolate Cake and it was delicious!! I mean, chocolate, coconut. . . hello?! Heaven! I topped it with a chocolate ganache just to make it even more chocolaty. Note: the recipe above is the same as the Betty Crocker recipe, so if you know Betty at all, you know it's a winner. Also, the pecan filling is not traditionally used on the sides of the cake. It's very goopy and hard to spread unless you let it cool in the fridge for a little while.

Graduation cake!

In June, I made a graduation cake for one of my students and her cousin. I had a hard time tracking down the plastic graduation caps cake toppers I've used in the past, so I figured out how to make it one (or rather, two!) out of fondant! I found some pictures online of other two-dimensional graduation caps, was able to draw it from the screen onto a piece of paper, cut it out, and then sort used it as my own homemade template and traced it onto the fondant. (I should probably mention here that I used white fondant, colored it with black food/icing color stuff, and just kneaded the color into it). I then cut the fondant out with a sharp knife and made it extra black and shiny by lightly rubbing some water on it with my finger. I also used a tiny bit of water on the back of it to stick it to the cake. I outlined the caps with yellow decorator's frosting and used a very steady hand (three tries for this one!) for the red tassel.

I used an ivory food/frosting color for the diploma, rolled it out, cut it in a rectangle, rolled it up, and tied it with a bow!

I'm baaaaaack (again!)

I love that we have this blog, Jenni (and Michelle. . . hello, Michelle? Are you out there?) and I really do need to get back into contributing to it. It's so much fun so I don't really know why I can't consistently keep up with it! Anyway, let's pick up from where I left off. . . post-Easter.

I made a super cute cake for a little friend of mine who was turning seven. It was my first time making people on a cake, and though I did "borrow" this idea from some pictures I found online, I'm still proud of it and I think it came out nicely! The party theme was a "sleepover party" though none of the kids actually slept over. . . the party was during the day and the kids were all six and seven years old, kind of young. I believe that they wore their pajamas to the party though!

i scream, you scream.

Oh, hi there, I'm just here trying out my new blog tag - homemade ice cream - because I feel that it is about to get OVERUSED!

Internet, my friend Melanie is the greatest friend! Besides being a wonderful cook and baker, and allowing me to swoop in to her daily life randomly and demand things like - a bed, and a muffin baking extravaganza, or say...a New Years Party - she has just sent me the best birthday present ever.

And I was just thinking to myself, what with all of Katie's recent posts about ice cream, I need an ice cream maker. Clearly good friends, like Mel, know what you are thinking before you ever even mention it!

Thanks Mel!! When I find a recipe for Mai Tai flavored ice cream, I'm making it, putting it in a bucket, and somehow getting it up there to you and LeahPants!