Amped Up Carrot Raisin Salad

Ingredients:
-about 4 large carrots, very finely shredded
-1 6 oz container of Chobani Pineapple Greek Yogurt
-8 oz crushed pineapple (in pineapple juice)
-1 small can mandarin oranges (drained)
-1 C raisins (I suggest jumbo medley raisins from Trader Joe's, if you can't get really plump and juicy ones, consider using golden raisins which tend to be softer)
-1/2 C mini marshmallows
-4 TB sugar

You basically just want to mix everything up in a bowl the night before you want to eat or serve it.  This stuff needs time to meld together or else it will just taste...well...

Healthy.

Instead of sugar you can use honey if you prefer, just start with a little squirt and work up to where you want it.  You can also consider coconut and pecans in it as well.  This made a pretty good amount, it probably would make about the equivalent of 5 small orders of carrot raisin salad at Chick fil a.

I have posted my skinny version my beloved side item of Chick fil a before, but this is another fun version we just concocted that is a hybrid between carrot raisin salad and ambrosia. 

Absolutely, 100%, don't skip out on using the finest shredding side of your box grater, or a hand grater with a fine shred on it.  That is the key to the soft carrots that we all know and love.  Crunchy carrots are just wrong.

Instead of getting 10+ grams of fat per serving with a mayo base, you get hardly no fat in the entire dish.  Chobani Pineapple is not one of the fat free versions but it is extremely low fat.  Other flavors to consider would be blood orange, banana, and honey.  Regardless, the Chobani yogurt will bring in a good amount of protein, the carrots bring in lots of tasty vitamins, the raisins provide ample iron, and the marshmallows just make you think you are eating something bad for you.

No harm in pretending!

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Icing Roses and a Kentucky Derby Garland of Roses Cake

I have never been good at icing roses, mostly because I have the superhuman power of instantly melting icing.  A bad superpower for roses, a great superpower when you need to pipe stiff icing.

Luckily, my mom always makes a Garland of Roses cake on the day of the Kentucky Derby and agreed that I could loiter around snapping pictures of it.

So first you want to make three little mini-volcanoes one on top of each other on the rose nail.  You need a good base built up.  I guess technically if you had a big enough rose nail you could go as high as you like.

Next, you want to make petals that are oriented straight up.  About five of them should fit around the rose. 

 Next, you will make a row that points more outward for a more opened look.

You can get the rose off the nail with scissors, and then use the nail tip to push the rose off the scissors and onto the cake.

Roses work best with a stiff but workable icing that will set up quickly.  Typically meringue powder is a necessary component.

 Keep repeating this process over and over and over again until you fill up the horseshoe.

Then go back and add in leaves!

And then dig in to the most delicious Garland of Roses!

Happy crafting, and a very Happy Kentucky Derby Day!

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Egg Frying 101

So it's really easy to fry an egg, at least in my opinion.  I rarely break yolks, I mean super rarely, and I chalk it up to a few simple solutions.

First, I like to use butter.  Half a TB or so, you can use Pam of course but I just like butter for frying eggs.

Some people use bacon grease, I find that disgusting personally.  If that is what you prefer, go for it.  I have very particular breakfast taste buds.

Anyway first and foremost crack the egg low to the skillet.  I cannot tell you how many people I have watched break an egg too high and it bursts the second it hits the pan.  I have mine usually a couple or inches above the pan and let it slowly fall in.


Eggs are like meat.  You really only want to flip them once.  There is no need to ever have to do more than that.

So you let it cook a little over medium heat until the egg whites start to turn white and bubble.  If the heat and butter is making the egg white bubble, it is because it is firm enough to move as a unit.

Next, when you go to flip it, send your spatula under it where the yolk is.  If you see the egg in the first picture, the yolk is clearly to one side.  START TO FLIP IT FROM THAT SIDE.  There is a lot less chance of it flopping off.

And DON'T pick it up and flip it mid-air, you are asking for a break.  I like to get it just a couple inches off the skillet and pretty much roll it over itself.  If you go in right by the yolk, you don't have to worry if the whole egg is on there and you can easily roll it.

Let it cook a few more minutes after the roll, you can usually poke the white with a spatula and make sure that it is firm instead of jiggly.  As soon as the white is firmed on the bottom side you are good to go and can slide it out onto your plate.

Gravity is not the friend of an uncooked egg. Don't fight it, use it to your benefit.  Cruddy pans are no good either, you HAVE to have a good skillet in life.

This may seem a very goofy craft of the day, but for anyone just starting out on their own, or in college, or whatever, it might come as some nice helpful tips.

I would have found it quite helpful when I began college!

I only like my eggs over easy and scrambled, so nailing a fried egg in the morning can make or break a day for me ;). 

Happy crafting!

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Lemon Cream: Rich and Dreamy Filling with a Chobani Twist!

I wish I had a picture of this as a filling in something, but I made the filling before I made the thing to be filled.  However, I would happily eat this with a spoon...so I count that as a win even if I don't have anything to put it in just yet.

Anyways, Ingredients:
-1.5 C vitamin D milk
-3 egg yolks
-1/4 C sugar
-3 TB flour
-1 tsp lemon extract
-1 TB butter
-1 6oz container Lemon Chobani
-Optional 3 TB powdered sugar

Heat the milk in a pan and bring it to a boil.  While you are getting that going, whisk the yolks/granulated sugar/flour in a separate bowl.  Start adding in a little milk, a TB or so at a time and whisk it in.

From my many years experience in watching Worst Cooks in America, we shall call this, tempering the eggs.

:) Watch TV enough and you might as well be a pro, right?

Anyways, once you have added a little milk, whisked, added a little more, whisked more, I did this about four times until the bowl (it was a little plastic container) started to feel warm in my hand. 

Lower the heat on the milk to low and add the eggs, whisking like mad.  Keep on whisking and cooking on low about four minutes, until it starts to thicken.  Remove from the heat and add in the butter and extract.  Whisk that in until it is combined.  Finally, add the Greek yogurt and whisk again.  Give it a taste and add in the powdered sugar if you want it a little sweeter.  I added it, and then added just a bit more extract, so it probably counteracted itself a bit.  Tasty regardless!

Pop it in the fridge and let it cool and thicken.  As you can see in the picture, mine ended up with a fantastic consistency once it cooled down.

If Bavarian cream and lemon curd had a food baby, it would be this.  It is great because it is thick and rich and creamy and all the things that you would expect something maybe made with heavy cream, but it is way lighter and has protein.

Seriously...delicious and has protein? I am ok with both of those.

In essence, you could do this with pretty much anything. Orange, raspberry, banana....

Oh my goodness...

Banana.

That is next on my list.

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Lemon Macarons

Ingredients:
-1 C Almond Meal mixed with 1.25C of powdered sugar
-1/4 C granulated sugar
-6 TB egg whites (about 3 large eggs)
-1 tsp lemon extract
-Yellow food coloring
-Pinch of salt

I separated the eggs this time instead of using liquid egg whites.  Icky.

Anyways, mix the egg whites, salt, coloring on medium speed until the eggs are frothy.  How much food coloring you use depends on how yellow you want them to be.  I just dip a knife down in the gel consistency color and that's just how much I add. 

Once they are frothy, crank the mixer up to high and start slowly streaming in the sugar.  Whip it (whip it good) until glossy, stiff peaks form.

Fold in the almond meal/sugar mix.  Put it in a piping bag, cut the tip off, and pipe out circles on parchment paper.  Hit the pan on the counter a couple times.  Let them sit for about 15-20 minutes. 

Once they have had a little time to form a crust, bake at 280 for 15 minutes. A lot of posts suggest opening the door a moment after the first 2 minutes of baking to release humidity.  I do that just in case.

I piped these out like I pipe rosettes, and I think that is why so many of mine cracked.  I could be wrong.  But when I made the shamrock shaped ones I piped it out in piles, if that makes any sense at all...basically I just kept my bag stationary during each one and let it create a mound.  The only place I really had cracking issues was where the mounds came together on the shamrocks.  I am thinking that with as stiff of a batter that is part of my issue.

If only I were back in my science fair days, that would be a delicious experiment to perfect macarons.

Mine look like some sort of mustard.  Maybe spicy brown.  That is because of a combination of A) the amount of yellow I used and B) I used Trader Joe's ground almonds which don't have the skins removed.  Personal preference for what you use, I like the low maintenance background here.

Plus it is visually interesting to me.  Making a cookie that looks like mustard is just a hoot.  These would be tasty with a lemon curd filling.  I am probably leaving mine unfilled for further rebellion.

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Asiago Garlic Herb Biscuits

I consider these to be like the Red Lobster biscuits, but on CRACK!

Ingredients:
-6 TB butter, about half melted (I took my straight from the fridge, microwaved it for 30 seconds.  Ended up half melted half not, and I think that was the key to LIFE).
-2 C AP flour
-1.5 C finely shredded Asiago cheese
-1.25 C Milk
-1/2 TB basil
-1/4 TB Rosemary
-1/3 TB garlic (you can tell I like to eyeball things)
-Dash o' salt
-1 TB baking powder

Mix all this up in a bowl.  For me, I was a little surprised that it took as little milk as it did.  I was expecting equal parts flour to milk, but I think the meltiness of the butter helped me out here.  More on that to follow.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (not sure if it is necessary so much as just a habit for me) and bake for 18 minutes at 400F.

Anyway, back when I made my birthday cake cookie sandwiches (which were fantastically delicious and I wish I had some right now) it started out like my regular homemade graham crackers do but I had accidentally melted the butter.  What it resulted in was a fluffy and delightful concoction not at all like my usual grahams.  It created a really moist batter and I never could get it back to what it was supposed to be, but the end result was amazing.

Quite the happy accident.

SO I think that is why these resulted in less milk.  Let me tell you, much to my surprise they had an IDENTICAL texture to the ones at Red Lobster.  Moist, soft, fluffy.  HAPPY.  They definitely tasted more happy.

And getting to eat one directly out of the oven definitely made ME more happy as well.

Ok fine I ate two.

I also put just a dab of butter on top of each one right when they came out so it could melt into it...you can't blame me there.

This made about a dozen or so.

Believe it or not I still have asiago cheese left.  I have used the triangle that I got from Meijer (it was the cheese of the month) for a couple of things now, and I still have about a fourth of it.  You definitely don't have to overdo it with asiago, it definitely has ample flavor.

Anyway I think these biscuits are a fun and fancy spin on those fantastic Red Lobster ones. 

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Flour Tortillas

 Ingredients:
-1.5 C AP Flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-dash of salt
-1/2 to 3/4 C warm water
-2.5 TB butter, softened

Mix all the ingredients in your kitchenaid with the dough hook until it starts to form a ball.  Add the water slowly, if you end up adding a little too much just add a little bit of flour back in.  It should start to make a ball but still be a little tacky.

Pull off hunks and make balls about 2 inches or a little less in diameter.  I put mine on my silpat, if you don't have one dust a surface with flour and set them on it.

Let them rest under a kitchen towel for ten minutes.

While they are taking a sit, heat a skillet to a medium high heat or a little over.  When the dough is ready, work one by one and roll them out to about 8 or so inches on a floured surface (basically getting them really close to see through) toss it in the skillet, and cook about 20 seconds on each side until it starts to brown.  Move on to the next dough ball and repeat.

I sprayed my skillet with pam a couple times, which is completely not needed because they don't stick, but I wanted to see if it would make them crispy or darker or anything.  It did make some a little more golden, but not enough to really necessitate it.  I like to put paper towel or foil between mine just because I am sometimes a little paranoid they will stick together. Use foil if you want to keep them warm in the oven.

I like to store mine in a Ziploc bag in my fridge.  They should last a week or so in the fridge, a few days out on the counter in a bag, and a good long while in the freezer.  Rewarm them between paper towels, just like you would a tortilla from the store.

I haven't tried them yet with other flour yet, but you better believe that is soon to follow.

The last time I made these I was at my undergrad apartment in Haute, and I had to use a water bottle to roll them out.  Needless to say, now that I have progressed in both degrees and kitchen utensils, this attempt was much simpler.

Now, you may ask, why make your own tortillas.  I personally have multiple reasons I like to make them now and then, but the main reason is just the fresh texture.  They tend to be a little softer and less gummy than store bought.  Don't get me wrong, I buy the store bought ones quite a bit.  But if it comes down to me driving across town or spending a little time making my own with ingredients I consistently have on hand, it doesn't take a lot for making them myself to win out.

Sometimes, you just like to avoid the grocery.

This recipe made 8 for me, and my sizing was completely inconsistent.  So I feel pretty safe saying 8 would be about normal.  I ended up with closer to 3/4 C water and having to add back in some flour.  They are forgiving.  And pretty darn inexpensive.

Just don't do like I did and forget the salt.   GRR!  I even sat it right next to my bowl.  They still taste alright, it was just knowing that I had left it out that was frustrating.

I prefer to make tortillas with butter, you can use EVOO or lard even.  I just happen to be butter biased.

If you leave them in the skillet too long they will get crispy, which I happen to not see as an issue.  Just be aware. 

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