What's cooking?

Blujixapug

I got a tiny tin of matcha powder from a trendy tea shop a year ago, to make green tea ice cream. Very expensive. Then just before Christmas I was looking in an asian grocery and found a container twice as big, for about 1/5 the price. Crazy. I have been making matcha lattes. They make me feel sophisticated.

Jozlyn

I might go home and do that myself.

Blujixapug

So I made cookies that look like donuts.

The is probably the best thing I have created or will ever create.



Inspiration from here. These cookies, with 1/2 cup flour substituted for cocoa. This icing.

In the game I am like "have some dignity and stop making cupcakes you silly Cyrenian leprechaun" and then this is what I do in the real world.

Those tissues were for wiping off my royal icing nozzle thing (I used a zip-lock bag with a corner cut off), not for anything unhygienically syphilitic. Should probs avoid including tissues in photos of food in the future, I guess.

Tharvis

we need a "drool" button, just for @Blujixapug's cookies

Nellaundra

Currently, defrosting some chicken to bake up with a honey and orange zest glaze with a dash of salt and pepper. I thank @Melodie for helping me out with this recipe, and I'll say how it goes once it's done!

E: It's in the oven!

Holy jesus this is good

Nellaundra

Update on the chicken: I didn't cut the orange thin enough, so it was bitter at points, but I couldn't find my grater. I know what I'm doing next time!

Trilliana

Bagels

Jovie

All right, I didn't wanna do this to you guys but you leave me no choice.

The Oreo Ice Cream Pie.

The first photo is what you need. Pretty simple, medium sized bowl, whisk, Oreo pudding mix, 1-3/4 cup whole milk (or fat free), chocolate crust, and some ice cream. My favorite is the vanilla bean, but I imagine chocolate, mint, or even strawberry might work.

The second photo is the amount of ice cream - I use roughly half a pint in the mixture. I feel it gives it the best consistency and keeps the whole pie pretty moist when it has to sit in the fridge.

Mix it for like 2 minutes, or just until the ice cream is fully melted (please do use a whisk or fork, using a spoon makes it flat), then pour into the crust and place in the fridge for 45 minutes to an hour. Voila, delicious pie.

I make this for my husband who obsesses it over it (people in the UK can order ingredients online), and will occasionally make it for work. People love it. Top some whipped cream on it and it's a pretty dashing dessert. If you want to make your own whipped cream, would suggest making it hard rather than soft... from personal experience... yeah... enjoy!

Trilliana

my son's birthday cake. Top layer's red velvet, bottom is strawberry... both box cake. The frosting is strawberry cream cheese frosting that I made. So much sugar.

Mannimar

This:

turned into this:

and it's taaasty.

Melodie

...

Want.

Trevize

Mannimar said:

This:

turned into this:

and it's taaasty.

Hellll yes. I honestly just use one thing of chocolate frosting, and one of peanut butter, though. Easiest no-bake fudge ever.

Kyrra

I've been craving pizza for months. Pretty much ever since changing my diet and realising that I'll never be able to buy a store bought pizza ever again.

So I decided to try and make my own.

Before they went into the oven. Italian herb pizza crust with a tomato, garlic, and basil sauce for a base. Diced ham, chicken breast strips, and goat's cheese.

And after the oven. They smell absolutely divine. They taste absolutely divine. I'm really proud of how they turned out and it's a really healthy meal for me. Gluten and dairy free all the way!

I added some cherry tomatoes and green leafy things to my plate to eat with one, but they are pretty filling for being so small.

Mannimar

Goat chess ~= dairy free, but that looks taaasty.

Something I see done a lot is people put the cheese down first before sauce. Apparently that prevents soggy pizza, and is the "Italian way".

Am so going to make something like this this weekend. Damn you, Kyrra. Getting me into the kitchen like this 

Kyrra

I wasn't sure how melty the cheese was going to be because I normally only eat it in salad type dishes. I didn't want to risk a soggy base, and I can't put down normal Parmesan to bind the toppings together. I have heard that buffalo cheese mozzarella is pretty fantastic for pizzas but it's a similar consistency to goat's cheese. It's very moist and full of whey. It's also really hard to track down for some reason.

Who knew that cooking could be so exciting?

Yang

Sunday is Yang gets a nice dinner made for him day. Tried some new stuff today! Cassoulet of Sausages, fried sunchokes, and a bottle of Bordeaux. I'm not a huge fan of the sunchokes.. kind of sweet at first and then a really heavy nutty flavor. The cassoulet is really tasty though! (and enough leftovers for the next 2-3 days.. )

Jovie

@Yang that looks quite tasty!!

Also sort of unrelated, but I really want to get into sushi-rolling. I've tried looking up some beginner's kits online, they aren't particularly expensive but a lot of the comments are, 'You don't need x, y, or z, just the mat and a good knife, you can watch everything else on youtube!'

I die for sushi almost every night and eating raw salmon smeared with avocado just isn't cuttin' it for me. Suggestions? How-tos? Recommendations on food/how to obtain the right stuff? On the cheaper side, preferably.

Berenene

Dinner tonight:

Poached salmon with dried fruit and nut cous cous.

Tania

For sushi, I use kokuhu rose rice. Then I use the recipe on Alton Brown's site because it tastes like the sushi I get at good sushi restaurants: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sushi-rice-recipe.html

(I have tried a lot of different recipes to try to get the right taste, and some white American dude's is the best. GO FIGURE.)

I don't have a sushi mat, so I just spread the rice on (definitely don't cool it in the fridge! Technically you should wave it with a fan while stirring it to obtain maximum shine, but I usually just mix it until it's lukewarm) the seaweed sheet and roll it with my hands.

A sharp knife is absolutely essential, though, because it is kind of tough to cut through the seaweed without a sharp knife.

I like making sushi. The ends aren't pretty, but w/e.


Also, I made a cake. It's chocolate with vanilla buttercream underneath the fondant.


Edit: I think the link to the rice is broken. Just google "kokuho rose" and it should come up. It's not expensive.

Skye

Home made affogato. om nom nom

Berenene

Skye said:

Home made affogato. om nom nom

Lol, nice!

Yang

Skye said:

Home made affogato. om nom nom

It's currently 2:20AM for me and I'm not craving a shot of espresso with ice cream/gelato. I'm not sure if I'm in love or being purely filled with hatred

Kyrra

My first attempt at pancakes because I've never actually made pancakes before!

On my quest to find buffalo cheese mozzarella, I came across this coconut pancake mix that is gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, soy free, and corn free. It's made by a company that designs food to cater for people with most allergens. Figuring out the consistency of the batter kind of sucked and I'm not sure I got it right because how it was cooking in the pan is not how it's supposed to cook according to the instructions. I also had the afterthought that made I should have just dug out my waffle maker and poured the batter into that, because I really love waffles.

They turned out pretty good. I also found my buffalo cheese mozzarella! I intended to have pizzas for dinner tonight so I could try some, since I bought it especially for use on pizzas but alas, no pizza bases in stock when I went food shopping. 

Skye

You know, I love pancakes when you just have them with (peanut)butter and syrup (Have no appetite for the fancy 'stick some fruit in it and top with icecream' stuff). But I always wind up burning the first pancake I make. Without fail. It's like that pancake is the rite of passage to making the rest of them.

Berenene

Kyrra said:

My first attempt at pancakes because I've never actually made pancakes before!

On my quest to find buffalo cheese mozzarella, I came across this coconut pancake mix that is gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, soy free, and corn free. It's made by a company that designs food to cater for people with most allergens. Figuring out the consistency of the batter kind of sucked and I'm not sure I got it right because how it was cooking in the pan is not how it's supposed to cook according to the instructions. I also had the afterthought that made I should have just dug out my waffle maker and poured the batter into that, because I really love waffles.

They turned out pretty good. I also found my buffalo cheese mozzarella! I intended to have pizzas for dinner tonight so I could try some, since I bought it especially for use on pizzas but alas, no pizza bases in stock when I went food shopping. 

I was hunting for that buffalo cheese mozzarella a couple of weeks back to make a pasta salad I saw on Everyday Gourmet.  Used bocconcini instead, was still pretty good.

Kyrra

@Berenene, the only place I found it here was an imported food shop, and even then, I had to ask if they had any in stock. They kept it in a tub and would make a ball or two for you on request. I assume the cheese stays fresher that way or something. It's either goat cheese or buffalo cheese for me, and either appears to be very melty like normal parmesan/mozzarella. 

Ourania

It's really bazaar to me that you can't find buffalo mozzarella in the US, as it is found in local supermarkets here (UK). I even have access to two buffalo farms. Buffalo mozzarella is the same as normal processed mozzarella bar it isn't processed and a much higher quality. When it is made, it is kept usually in slightly salted water to maintain freshness. We buy it in bags of water here, which you drain off. Depending where you are, search your local delicatessens for it.

Trilliana

I see @Kyrra's pancakes as crepes, but semantics. For waffles, though, you'd need baking powder for it to rise, right? I made waffles last night though.... with Peanut Butter and syrup. I need to make more bagels. >.>

Berenene

Kyrra said:

@Berenene, the only place I found it here was an imported food shop, and even then, I had to ask if they had any in stock. They kept it in a tub and would make a ball or two for you on request. I assume the cheese stays fresher that way or something. It's either goat cheese or buffalo cheese for me, and either appears to be very melty like normal parmesan/mozzarella. 

Yeah, I only really tried at my small woolies. I have a great Mediterranean deli at my local shopping center that would have had it but I didn't have time to try there. Also, love a great Mediterranean deli, all the Italian stuff they sell reminds me of nonna.

Taraus

I still sort of cringe internally at any mention of buffalo anything - I used to live next door to a marketing guy, and he was always sending over products he was advertising. He happened to give us a wheel of buffalo cheese once. There aren't even words to describe the smell that came with it - we put it unopened, in the fridge. Later on that night, cries of 'Oh my god, the fridge smells like ass." were resounding through the house. I could never get past the aroma to taste it.

On topic~ I got a deep fryer for Christmas, after years of longing for one. I've been doing so much recipe experimenting ~ doughnuts, various types of french fries, chinese food (homemade wontons, pot stickers, egg rolls), fried chicken, ravioli (yes I fried ravioli), zucchini. Funnel cake was last weekend's project, and as soon as fish stops being tainted, I'm gonna try my hand at squid. I have successfully turned everyone close to me into a heart-attack level diabetic. Great success!