Making Cheese

My parents made mozzarella cheese, about a half hour ago.

I watched.

I’m not a huge cheese person. I like mozzarella, I like cheddar, some goat cheese, and sometimes comte, etc. Hard cheese, usually.

I don’t like  milk, though. So the thought of watching, smelling, and TOUCHING cheese that was curdled just stressed me out.

This, my friends, is why I did not partake.

I watched, though, which is just as helpful, right?

Right.

I don’t know where they found the recipe, and I was late to the party, but I thought I’d share some pics, anyway.

Enjoy!

This is the pot the milk was, you know, “cooked” in…

This is the cheese after being pulled & stuff, in water…

This is some cheese on a plate…

This is some more cheese..

And this is a plate of delicious food.

Sundried tomatoes, homemade bread, and homemade cheese.

And finally, my dog.

Just kidding, y’all know this isn’t my dog. But she sure is cute.

My dog went to visit my uncle for the week, so, sadly, she won’t be home for a few days.

This one sure is cute, though, right?

Not nearly as cute as my other, brown dog… 😉

Toodle-loo, I’m off to school in the morning so it’s an early night for me. 😀

Much love, good luck, and happy eating.

OH, and if you do want to learn how to make your own cheese, it’s no problem!

Just leave a comment or shoot me a message & I’ll put up a post, or several, and maybe even some videos.

For now, TheLaughingCook

Flourless Chocolate Cake (plus almond-cream-cheese-icing)

So, it’s not secret I despise cream cheese. The smell, the taste, and the texture.

For reals.

But today, I chose to embrace those fears (and a love of chocolate).

My day began lazily, a bowl of mini wheats, and an episode of the Bachelor.

Then, I got down to business.

 

I surfed around the web for food creation inspiration, and since we were all out of flour, flourless pastries were my baked good of choice.

I settled on a recipe and decided to alter it to fit my needs.

 

Here’s my recipe:
1 cup (220 g) sugar

3/4 cup Ghirardelli Dark/SemiSweet Chocolate Chips

1 Cup butter

4 eggs, separated

 

And here’s what I did:

 

First, you want to melt the butter & chocolate in a double boiler. While you do this, feel free to take a sample. Also, I should let you know that I’m not quit sure how much chocolate I used, I just poured about a third of a 10 oz bag in, maybe more.

Now, I also only did half this recipe, because I only had two eggs, but this is what I had been planning on.

 

Then, you want to cream the sugar and the egg YOLKS together in a bowl. I used an electric mixer, it worked loverly-ly.

 

Once I did this, I poured in the chocolate and mixed. YUM! YUM!

Then, I took the egg whites and beat those separately to form stiff peaks, and folded this into the other mixture.

 

Then, I greased a pan and poured it all in.

 

I baked this for 20-25 minutes, but it might need as much as 30-35. Just stick a fork in and see if it comes out clean!

 

Now, on to the frosting.

 

To be honest, the cake didn’t need anything but vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Unfortunately, I was in a cooking mood, and just wanted to make some. Oh, and I wanted to get rid of the cream cheese left over from when my parents had some people over and smoke salmon was one of the appetizers. They put out capers, onions, pumpernickel bread, and some cream cheese, but I don’t think anyone touched the squishy white stuff.

Smart People.

 

The recipe I used for frosting can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cream-cheese-frosting-ii-2/

I did half of the recipe, and instead of vanilla extract, I used almond. Simple, eh?

 

Good Luck & happy eating/cooking!

 

 

Oh, btw, there will be a second post up tonight because I start school tomorrow and want to make sure I have some stuff up. Cheers, chefs!

Tuesday

Hi there.

It’s Tuesday, and I have some math homework I should really get done.

First, though, I thought I should update here with a little post of my favorite foods.

Let it be known, however, that this changes. Daily.

 

Right Now, My Ins & Outs are:

Ins:

Frosted Mini Wheats & Honey Bunches of Oats (with strawberry) mixed, with no milk.

Sticky Rice &  Curry Sauce (dee-lish!)

Frozen Yogurt (seriously, this stuff is my true love, no joke)

Peanut Butter Mochi

 

Outs:

Broccoli (for some reason, I’ve always loved this stuff, but not now)

Red Bean Paste Mochi (I got a boxed set, and this type is the only ones I let go uneaten)

Dismal Days (not always great for photography)

Going Back to school (after a long, peaceful break)

 

So there you have it, folks. Or folk.
I wonder if anyone is reading my blog posts? Maybe not, but I still enjoy doing them, and I hope you (if you’re there) do, too.

Someday, maybe we’ll have a bigger audience 😉

Until then, -Happy Eating!

 

 

What We Had: The Easiest Curry Ever

Hi Guys. This post is a bit of a cheat.

I figured I should just come right out and say it, so I did. Anyone, I bet a whale even, can make this.

I made it.

Thats not saying too much, though, because all you need to be able to do is open a few containers (one is a can), pour & stir some things, and chop up sme veggies and maybe some meats if you are a carnivore. Ok, so maybe a whale couldn’t do this.

But hey! It’s not their fault—they don’t have thumbs.

Enough, enough with my terrible humor. Let’s goooo!

Things You’ll Need:

-this feeds four-ish people, with LARGE servings-

-Approx. time: 30 minutes, maybe less, maybe more (depending on your knife skills)

One Pan/Pot (I used I wok, it was fantastic)

1 Can Coconut milk ( I used the Parrot Brand, it was okay)

1 Pint Stock (broth) You can had a 1/2 pint more if you’re stretching this for a crowd.

2-3 Tablespoons Curry Paste (this is the cheat, but you can make your one. I’ll put links in the bottom)

1/2 Large Onion, diced

4 Cloves Garlic, depending on your tastes (how much you like)

Plenty of veggies, and meats.

For your reference:

I used  2 heads of broccoli, cut up.

I used 3 carrots, diced.

I also used about 20 snow/sugar snap peas.

That’s all I used because that’s all I had.

**Oh, and I topped my dish off with crushed peanuts for protein, everyone else declined when offered**

Here’s How:

First, cut up everything and set it aside

*The broccoli isn’t pictured until the end because it was a last minute addition.

Then, plop the onion & garlic into the pan with some oil. I used olive oil, but sesame oil is okay, too.

Be aware, though, that sesame oil can burn faster. It’s a better flavoring oil that cooking oil.

Next, you’ll want to add the carrots.

Now you can add the stock.

My Stock was Frozen, So I plopped it right in and it started to melt. 😀

What an EXCITING photo, I’m sure!

This is the coconut milk I used. It was fine, I think.

Sometimes, the coconut milk can be bad, and I would warn you not

to buy this one specific type ( I had it last week), but I can’t remember the name Sorry

Once everything was melted, I added in the milk and cooked it. I then added the curry paste, stirred, and then dropped the greens in. TA-DA!

Now that the curry’s done, cook some rice & serve it up! Happy eating!

Summer Rolls

These Korean Summer Rolls, done “winter-style” are delicious, simple, fast, and easy. They make for a great daily lunch, and easy dinner, or just a snack. Knowing how to make them is a useful thing, and the hardest part about it? Finding the ingredients~ Enjoy

First, you’ll need to do some prep work. Nothing serious. Just chose what veggies/meats (I’m a vegetarian, soo…veggies for me 🙂 ) you want to “wrap” in your wraps (no lame joke intended, promise). I decided on carrots, cucumbers, avacado, and snow peas. I’ve heard it said (and a few Korean friends have confirmed) that carrots/cucumbers are the “American” version, and they aren’t used in Korea typically.

Some other things I’d suggest? Rice noodles, seaweed, bean sprouts, brocoli, and even sweet potatoes (my family uses sweet potatoes with cranberry-chipotle glaze, and it’s delicious. I’ll link the recipe if I can find it at the bottom).

So, first you’ll want to slice all that stuff up, and set it aside.

So, you’re wondering how I got these carrots so thin, eh? Not really, I’ll bet, but I shall tell you anyway. It’s really simple.

1. Peel the carrots as usual, and discard (or compost, or feed it to your dog, whatever) the peel.

2. Keep peeling. The peels will be nice, thin, and long. Ta-da!

-Here’s a tip: You can use a Mandolin, or a grater, or just some fantastic knife skills to prepare all this stuff, but it’s really easy, simple, and fast to do it this way (peeling) too. Plus, there isn’t very much clean up. It’s up to you, but this is my pick.-

Next, get your rice paper, and soak it.

Wait, What? Rice Paper? Um, can you get that at Shaw’s? Wegmans? STOP AND SHOP? WHERE in the WORLD is rice paper?

This, my dears, is rice paper.

I found it at a lovely, local Korean food store.

As you can see, it’s 22 centermeters in diameter. Oh, and it’s Korean. Mine is, at least.

As you can also see, this stuff is a hot commodity. Which means?

It’s hard to come by. I had to fork over 199 dollars just for one package (of 25 or so). Talk about an arm and a leg!

Just kidding. It’s actually just $1.99.

Wow. Lame Joke Central. 😦

It’s rather purty, right? I say yes.

To soak it, you can do whatever, but here’s how I roll.

1. Fill pot (or pan) with an inch or two of HOT water.

2. Place in half of paper, if a small pan, or the whole thing if it’s big enough to fit.

3. If it’s too big, I wait a bit, then dip the other half, and sort of work the whole thing until it folds up and all fits.

**Don’t worry, this doesn’t make it stick together if you keep it it the water**

4. Remove from water, and rinse with cold, running water.

-This isn’t necessary, but I like it. Not sure why-

Okay, now it’s time to wrap these puppies up.

Pretty self explanatory, no?

Of course, you can wrap these pretty much any way. This way just works for me.

Now, you can slice them up, and eat, or make a sauce.

I made a sauce, but sadly, didn’t take pictures.

Here’s what you need:

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon mirin (sweetened, cooking Sake)

1 tablespoon sweet & sour sauce

(I used La Choy Sweet/Sour mixed 1/2 & 1/2 with water, you can always make your own)

Mix all of this together & serve.

You can also have them with peanut sauce, which is what my mom did.

We make this on a regular basis, so next time, expect a post.

Scenes From My Kitchen***

I added three stars to the end of this post because its a nonsensible post, filled with photographs, and not much talking. Er-writng. Haha. Enjoy, this, I believe, is pure happiness.

 

Just something a little bit inspiring for you. This is a metal bowl (yes, really!) and in it, water, and in THAT, sticky rice. Uncooked. I’ll show you how to take it from this to something incredibly delectable later, but for now, ENJOY. IMAGINE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now that this nothingness has been taken care of, on with our days!

Daily Ramblings: A Walk in the Woods

 

Yesterday, the sun was out and bright, so I took my dog and my camera into the backyard and we wandered about, playing in the sunshine & breathing deeply the cold, wintry air.

my adorable dog, savoring nature

 

Winter hasn’t really hit the east yet, it seems, and there’s hardly any snow. I’m starting to believe we might just be skipping right to Spring.

Winter Hasn't "really" hit yet

 

 

We wandered about, playing with green,metallic bows, warm knit hats, and comfortable boots. We danced about leaves, freshly cut wood, and eventually, were drawn back to reality just in time for lunch. YUM!

 

 

My dog is a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver, and if you know anything about the breed, you know they are known to be difficult to train. Don’t let the cuteness fool you, this dog’s tough, but she’s sweet & loving, so the times when she refuses to listen, it’s all worth it.

Dogs truly are girls’ best friends.