Beginning of Fall Omelette

So I just whipped this baby up, I highly suggest you try it! Great fall breakfast treat.

Needed.

2 large eggs,

4-6 small cherry tomatoes

5-6 dry leaves of basil

Cheese, grated 1 cup (your favorite kind, I usually make my omelettes with Sharp White Cheddar)

Salt, pinch

Pepper, pinch

Red Kayenne powder, a dash.

1 TBSPN butter or cooking oil

1. In a bowl, crack and mix two eggs until well blended. With a fork or wisk beat in pinch of salt, pepper, and a dash of kayenne.

In a pan on medium heat, melt a tablespoon of butter or oil (whichever you prefer, but cooking butter makes it nice and golden brown)

2. on a paper towel, grate one cup of cheese.

pour the mixed egg and spices into the pan and cook until almost solid. add cheese. with scissors cut up dried basil leaves onto the melting cheese. Cook until solid.

3. In a bowl, cut up cherry tomatoes (cutting out seeds and slicing into small pieces.) add to one side of the cooked egg, fold and press until cooked.

4. Serve.

Feeds 1-2

~Sorry~

Sorry! This week's recipe is postponed due to Sickness, and finding bug trails in my flower!

Before i transferred the flower to the proper container, it was left out in its paper bag, so my flour developed minute bugs (which were probably there to begin with). I tried sifting my flour, to no avail, more bugs showed up a few days later. its time to throw it out and buy some more.

So instead of a recipe this week, here is some info and tips to keep your ingredients safe and pest free!

White Flour

Courtesy of Morguefile

Flour is a staple in most homes. Even for Families who don't spend much time in the kitchen, there is probably a sack of flour tucked in the back of a cabinet somewhere. Although it can last a long time if handled properly, flour is perishable. To get the longest useful life from the flour you buy, these simple suggestions will help you contain and store your flour better, and offer some recommendations on how to keep flour safe from pests.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Storing Flour

1. Purchase only as much flour as you will be able to use in six months. All flour contains some oil, and flour suppliers suggest that you keep flour for less than half a year because after that time, the oil in the flour is likely to go rancid. This is the degradation of the oil due to oxidation and results in flour with an old, sour taste.

2. Freeze flour for a short time after purchasing. When you buy flour, it may already have minute insect eggs in it. To kill any eggs that might exist, refrigerate your flour for a few days.

3. Store flour in an airtight container. Keeping moisture out of flour is one way to extend its life and discourage bugs.

4. Keep flour separate from produce and cleaning supplies. Flour is like a sponge and soaks up the odors around it. If you keep your flour next to your pine cleaner, it will smell like pine cleaner. If you keep your flour next to your onions, it will smell like onions. The best way to ensure that your flour stays sweet smelling and fresh is to keep it in an airtight container away from other contaminating aromas.

5. Add insect repellent herbs to the area around flour. Weevils and other bugs avoid strong smelling herbs. Adding herbs to the shelf where you store flour can help keep bugs in check. Bay leaf is the most common herb to include with flour.

6. Keep flour in the refrigerator during hot weather when it can go rancid more quickly.

7. Freeze the flour. The most effective way to extend the life of flour and ensure that it will retain its flavor and be free of insects is to freeze it.

Read more at http://www.ehow.com/how_4576607_store-flour.html

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Evening everyone! So here's my latest foray into the cooking bit. I decided to go a bit more complicated this week. I was discussing my blog with my good friends mom (wonderful woman, just sayin') whom I love to death. I was having a hard time deciding what to cook next. Since Ive been cooking these and not getting to eat much of my own creations (my step-father loves everything I've made so far, and has cleared it out whenever I bring it by on my weekend visits to my parents home from college.). Dannielle, sweetheart that she is, suggested my mothers favorite 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake'.

Let me tell yah, harder than it looks. There's a lack of pictures in this one, cause I wasn't cooking in my apartments kitchen (where everything is organized according to my will) so I got a little side tracked with gathering everything...and i forgot to charge my phone to take photos.

Let me just start off by saying this. You really want to have a timer on hand for this one, and a hand mixer. a wisk you can probably get away with doing, but you'll want to hold off on the pre-heating. Second, make sure you have everything you need out and ready. I had to run down to my grandmothers (at 2AM no less) to get another two eggs.

anyway, ONWARD!

Pineapple upside-down cake

Ingredients

Topping:*
1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 can (20 oz) of pineapple slices

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 Tbsp cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups of sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
4 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Directions

1 Start by making the caramel topping. Take brown sugar and butter and combine and melt in a saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly, this should take several minutes. (After sugar melts, don't stir.) Pour mixture into a 10 inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer ontop of the caramel mixture.

2 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition. Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.

3 Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Just a few more tips for this one. Make sure you've really made your caramel. My cake turned out great, nice and moist, but I didn't quite get the caramel topping right, i needed to have it at a high enough temp long enough, so it didnt set well.
Also, make sure you let this COOL a little while before you flip it. I went from pan to plate immediately, forgetting the cool stage, and had a little ripping occur round the edges, but it was warm enough to reform.
Good luck Cooking!
Morgan~

Cheese cake with Graham Cracker Crust

So here's the cheesecake i was cooking along with the shortbread thumbprints. I had alot of fun with this, but i still think it needs a little work on my part to get it just right. as forewarning once again, try not to multitask too much. you really need to watch this to prevent the cracking (whic

h you will see in my final photo), and alot of the accidents you can avoid. My springform started to leak and make the oven smoke, so my cheese cake was cooked unevenly and cracked because i had to take it out mid-cooking to prevent fire. I would suggest wrapping tin foil around the base, just to be safe.

Onward!

Cheese cake with Graham Cracker Crust

Graham Cracker Crust

What You Need:

• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 24 graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. In a small saucepan or the microwave, melt 6 tablespoons of butter.
2. Place about 24 graham crackers in a plastic bag. Roll with a rolling pin until finely crushed. This may be done in small batches.
3. Measure 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs into a medium bowl.
4. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the graham crackers.
5. Add the melted butter.
6. Stir or blend together with your hands
7. Press into the pie plate or other pan.
8. To pre-bake the pie crust, bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F. oven.

Tips:

1. Add a little cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice to the crumbs for a spiced flavor.

Classic Cheesecake

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

HEAT oven to 325°F.

BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 55 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Dont try to remove the spring form outer edge too soon or it will harm the cheesecake. let it cool a little bit on the counter, then put it in the fridge to let it chill. Leaving it in overnight is probably for the best. Also, really, don't try to mix this by hand, i tried, and failed miserably. use a fork, if you dont have a hand or standing mixer, and go slowly. As you can see from my picture, i added all the eggs at once, that was a reading error on my part, so try to read all of this slowly and get everything in where its supposto be.
Have fun!
Morgan~

Raspberry and Almond ShortcakeThumbprints

These were a blast to make. I decided to multi-task while I was making my Classic Cheesecake with Graham cracker crust.

Tip: Try not to multi-task too much, these got a lil crispy when my oven decided to smoke with some of the leakage from the spring-form of the Cheesecake. Whoops ^^;

Gotta throw this in here, just for those new to cooking something like this.
WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS. every time you touch a new material, try to wash your hands, especially if you're hand mixing or folding, rolling dough, and even opening packages. This cuts down on germs, cross contamination, and stray debris in your foods, like hair.

That being said. YOU'VE NEVER MADE COOKIES TILL YOU'VE USED YOUR HANDS. and i mean used your hands. Literally, I was wrist deep in this dough. it was so fun, i highly recommend it, especially if you don't have a standing mixer.

Onward!

Raspberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprints

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 
  
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in flour until dough comes together. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Make a small hole in the center of each ball, using your thumb and finger, and fill the hole with preserves.
3. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar, 3/4 teaspoon almond extract, and milk until smooth. Drizzle lightly over warm cookies.

Lemon Meringue Bars

So in the last week or so Ive gone crazy with cooking. This one was my absolute fave recipe I tried this week.

Lemon Meringue Bars are yummy and surprisingly simple. Though I must say if you're going to attempt these (well, the whipped meringue topping)I would suggest you at least invest in a hand mixer. It is very hard to whip the meringue by hand with a wisk, as forewarning YES I TRIED.
Anyway, Onward.

INGREDIENTS

Lemon Meringue Bars

INGREDIENTS

Makes 12, round about.

• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (buy more than one lemon to zest)
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 6 large eggs, plus 4 large egg whites
• 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

· Preheat oven to 350. Make crust: Put butter, flour, confectioners sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, and the salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until well blended.

· Transfer mixture to a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Press batter evenly into baking sheet. Chill in freezer 10 minutes.

Bake until golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

· Make filling: Whisk together whole eggs, 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, the lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons lemon zest. Pour over crust. Bake until filling is set, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Keep oven at 350.

·

Make meringue topping: Put egg whites and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.

· Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread meringue over filling, swirling to create soft peaks. Bake until meringue begins to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut into bars. Bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 1 day.

Just some notes. I didn't use the right kind of pan for this, but i always remember my grandmother using a dish, so i used it too. I would recommend heavily greasing (or buttering) if you're using a glass dish, it doesn't burn, but crisps the edges nicely. The top is very sticky, so don't cover it if you can avoid it, i lost half of my meringue in transport.

Have fun cooking!

~Morgan,

Kreature of Habit