Baking Bahr

Humorous Interlude

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:59:27 GMT

No photos, just some recipes

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:33 GMT

I am having Dental Issues, so I needed to make something for dinner Saturday night that would deliver protein and would be something my family would eat. Crock Pot Chicken Wings to the rescue!

I had a bag of frozen chicken wings, so I threw those into my rather large crockpot. I then put most of the other ingredients into a measuring cup, so I could mix them together when pouring over the chicken... except I forgot the oil. I figured, "Hey! I'll eyeball it! It's only two tablespoons - just a quick glorp!" I didn't take into account how wide the bottle's opening was, and I think I dropped in about a half-cup (or more?). Oops. I also used dried minced onion since we didn't have any scallions in-house. Still, it was fantastic, and I'll be making this again, and again, and again. Frankly, I could use this with any bag of frozen chicken, and be very happy with the results.

I put the leftovers into a plastic container and tucked it in the fridge. The next day, I discarded the skimmed fat from the top (I should have kept it - it was white! Oooh, the eggs that could have been fried in that! Gah! Well, you know what they say about hindsight), and the sauce had settled into a jelly. It was very interesting to excavate the very tender meat from the rather solid jelly. I have saved the jelly to put over rice, it was that good! Oooh, and it'll be good with mashed potatoes, too...

In the past, I have mentioned baking macaroni and cheese. It's now also posted to RecipeZaar, as Snobahr's Baked Mac 'n Cheese. Now, when people ask for mac'n'cheese recipes that don't come out of a box, I can refer them to that. I know there are a bajillion mac'n'cheese recipes on there, and I sorted through them all, per the site's rules about not posting duplicate recipes. I've gotten to the point where straight boxed mac'n'cheese is revolting to me. I just can't bear the thought.

I also put forth my mom's Lardy Cake recipe to RecipeZaar. I haven't made this, and I don't remember actually eating any as a child, but Mom tells me that I would devour mine with great enthusiasm. Looking at myself, I don't doubt it (tee hee!). I think I will try to bake this at least once this winter, perhaps using a dough from my bread machine cookbook...

And now, a Public Service Announcement

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:59:03 GMT

So, you know how when you're eating chicken wings - not the drumettes, but the flat part, with the two bones inside? Here's a stupidly simple method of enjoying all the meat, and not gnaw around the bones.

Simply remove the bones!

I'm so doing this next time I have chicken wings.

Thank you, cvirtue, for finding this nifty PSA. And thank you, Food Wishes, for producing it.

That Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:04:53 GMT

The Cinnamon Raisin Bread that BoyZilla and I made for Mommy's Cooking Show (Episode 2) is now posted to RecipeZaar.

An explanation

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:52:00 GMT

Yeah, and the reason for posting that Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe? To accompany MOMMY'S COOKING SHOW!

5:32 minutes of your life that will never return!

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:12:46 GMT

Taken from The Biggest Book Of Bread Machine Recipes, and slightly modified (to add more cinnamon).

1 Cup and 2 Tablespoons of (2%) Milk
1 Tablespoon Butter or Margarine
3 Cups Bread Flour
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon (we used about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
3/4 Teaspoons (Kosher) Salt
1 Teaspoon Bread Machine Yeast
3/4 Cup Dark Raisins

Dump stuff into the hopper according to manufacturer's directions, select 1.5# loaf, White Bread cycle, and let'er rip.

Mommy's Cooking Show!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:36:48 GMT

Today, I did the post-production on Mommy's Cooking Show! This week: How to make a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich!

Needless to say, it's not terribly technical, complicated, or brain-bending. It's 4 minutes of my son at the camera, me making a sandwich, and the "witty" banter to accompany.

It's four minutes of your life that will NEVER RETURN!

My pumpkin bread smells GREAT!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:20:15 GMT

I just took it out of the bread machine, and it smells woooooonderful! I promised my son that his after school snack will include some of it.

Update on the mead

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:39:55 GMT

Blueberry Melomel's specific gravity: 1.125. Alcohol % according to the hydrometer: 16.5% (I never took an original reading).

Show mead: 0, across the board, and it's stinky.

Sugar Cookies

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:55:49 GMT

So, on my regular journal (snobahr), I'd been discussing PostCrossing. As one of the first five postcards I sent out two weeks ago arrived, it made me eligible to send out another card (long story short: Send a card, receive a card. You can't get a card until you send one, first). I chortled because the card that was received yesterday was to Finland, and the card I'm sending tomorrow is also going to Finland.

I took advantage of PostCrossing's partnership with this website that makes custom post cards, and sent a photo of the Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies that I made in 2006.

I'm thinking of going through snobahr and re-posting all the cooking-related items here, backdated appropriately, since a number of them are friends-locked, due to containing non-cooking-related information.

Amusing moment

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:32:13 GMT

So, my son (who is 5 years old at the time of this entry) asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Okay, no problem. I slapped it together, and asked the Dreaded Question, "How do you want it cut?"

"I want ten pieces!" he informed me, confidently.

I thought about it a moment, regarding the pristine sandwich on the cutting board. "Well, how about eight?" I asked.

"How are you going to do that?" he replied, disbelievingly.

"Like this!" I responded, and proceeded to cut the sandwich into eighths. This delighed my son to no end. Moreso, because of the flourish of getting it from (very small) cutting board to plate, done by putting the plate face-down on the sandwich, and flipping the whole shebang ass over teakettle...

Velveeta Cheeseburger Mac

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:28:59 GMT

This is what I'm making for dinner, tonight. I used the shredder attachment on the food processor my mom-in-law handed down to me, but frankly, that thing's a pain in the butt for such a relatively small amount of cheese. Harrumph, I say.

Makes 6 servings
From Fall 2009 Kraft Food & Family. They say to use Velveeta, I just use cheddar or any of the block cheeses.

1 pound ground beef
2 3/4 cups water
1/3 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 cups uncooked macaroni
8 ounces cheddar cheese (Velveeta) - cut to 1/2" cubes

Brown meat in large skillet; drain.

Add water, ketchup and onion powder; mix well. Bring to boil. Stir in macaroni; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 8-10 min or until macaroni is dender.

Stir in cheese; cook until melted, stirring occasionally.

I will post a photo of it, when it's done cooking. I'm stil in the "Simmer on medium-low heat" phase right now.

OMG, I should totally make this...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:28:12 GMT

Thanks to sasha_khan for this link to The Ultimate Super Bowl Snack Stadium! It's horrific! I must make it!

Boxed mix brownies!

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:23:21 GMT

Unmodified, I baked a batch of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies. I decided to line the baking pan with a layer of foil, since the purpose of today's baking is to take some of it to Disneyland tomorrow, and figured foil would make brownie-extraction that much easier.

Boy, was I correct!

After the pan cooled, I lifted the foil out and set the brick? block? of brownie top-side down on a cutting board. I used a bread knife to cut as shown in the photo, since it conveniently was longer than the width of the unpanned brownie. I then cut each bar into thirds, and after sampling a "square" (they're quite rectangular, to be perfectly honest) purely for quality control purposes, put the rest into a large ziploc food storage box. The box has been put on top of the fridge, where my 5 year old son can't reach. Yet.

Indeed, I shall be using this method for brownie baking in the future. Easy clean-up, easy cutting. Happy Bahr.

Cheese Bread

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:33:27 GMT

Since I have bread flour in the house once again, I am using my bread machine. Once again.

My bread machine is currently chugging away with Cheese Bread! Yay! BoyZilla helped with the ingredients (I measured, he poured - he got to pour the flour, this time!)

The Ingredients

2/3 C milk
1 1/2 C Shredded cheddar (My mom-in-law buys shredded cheese by the 2-cup package, and we had a recently-opened package of ched-shred in the fridge.)
1 egg
3 C bread flour
2 T sugar
3/4 t salt
1 t bread machine yeast

Into the hopper it went, BoyZilla pressed the 1 1/2 pound loaf size button, the machine defaults to Basic White Bread, and Zilla pressed Start! By the bye, this recipe is out of my Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes (shameless plug).

I will post a photo of the finished loaf later today, assuming I remember to. Because I'm simple, that way.

Ponderings

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:36:14 GMT

I'm thinking of making a tweet account to show stuff that I've made on any given day. A stupid food-photo blog.

It's alive!

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:05:03 GMT

The second batch of mead, which I started yesterday, is now percolating sedately in the shower. I think I'll move it to under the sink tomorrow (Monday), in case the slow-to-start means delayed over-foaming in the carboy. It's easier to hose down the shower stall than clean out the cabinet.

I'm also planning on getting another couple of gallon bottles of apple juice, so I can use the bottles themselves as carboys. Where I'm going to put those is a question for another day.

Getting a second batch of mead started

Sat, 30 May 2009 16:13:46 GMT

I currently have on my stove (about) 1.5 qts honey, 1 qt apple juice, 1 cup dried blueberries (thoroughly rinsed), and 1 qt water.

Later this afternoon, I will attempt to transfer this into a gallon carboy and fill the leftover space with (filtered) water. I will put the carboy in the shower stall overnight, in case it gets very interesting (like the batch I started earlier this week did), but I just realised that I don't think the blueberries will fit through the hose I use to transfer from pot to carboy. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Oh well! We'll see how it tastes, come Halloween or Thanksgiving!

Holy crap!

Fri, 29 May 2009 13:38:56 GMT

I'm Chef of the Day!

EEEEE!!!

Jelly Dogs!

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:30:57 GMT

For my son's lunch, I made Jelly Dogs! These are hot dogs cut into quarters, and with half-sticks of uncooked spaghetti shoved into one end. These are then tossed into boiling water until the spaghetti is cooked through.

I'm glad I took the photo before he saw the plated food, because he devoured them with enthusiasm!

So, I was chatting with my mom, today...

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:17:48 GMT

...and I got the idea to make "zombie cupcakes" for Sunday. It'll likely just be plain ol' cupcakes, with candy bones mixed into the frosting.

In Springtime colours, of course...

Vanilla Sandcastle Cake recipe

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:58:25 GMT

I'm putting this here, because this is the third time I've rediscovered the Williams-Sonoma packaging for my Castle bundt pan.

Vanilla Sandcastle Cake

For the cake:
- 2 2/3 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 16 Tbs (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup milk
For the Glaze (optional):
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325F. Grease and flour the Sandcastle Bundt® pan, tap out exess flour.

To make the cake, over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth - about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla just until incorporated, aout 1 minute.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition just until incoporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter so the sides are higher than the center. Bake until the cake begins to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes.

To make the glaze, in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar, water and lemon juice and heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Tap the cake pan gently on a work surface to loosen the cake. Set the rack over a sheet of waxed paper, invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Using a pastry brush, brush the warm cake with the glace. Let the cake cool completely, at least 2 hours, before serving. Serves 16.

Decorating ideas: Scoop your favorite ice cream onto a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze 1 to 4 hours, then place the icecream in the center of the cake. Or, pleace 3 hulled strawberries in the center, then fill the center with alternating layers of pastry cream and sliced strawberries. Pipe whipped cream on top of each turrent and top with a strawberry.

I know I have this in snobahr

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:32:23 GMT

But since I want to keep cooking-stuff here, I'm re-posting (with a modded recipe) my Sekanjabin recipe, here.

Get a large-ish pot out. I do not recommend cast-iron (if you have something that large)

2 cups apple cider vinegar
4 cups brown sugar
A generous glop of peppermint extract

Dissolve the sugar in vinegar.

Simmer for 1/2 hour. Add the mint, stir, remove from heat, and let cool. Dilute the resulting syrup to taste with ice water (5 to 10 parts water to 1 part syrup). The syrup stores without refrigeration.

It's different from my original post because I'm eliminating the water entirely. It makes for a stronger syrup, which makes for less waste. I like it. It is full of nom for me. Or rather, glurp.

OMG, something else I have to make!

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:18:32 GMT

Bacon-Crumble Apple Pie... It's got bacon, and cheese, and apples! It's PIE! With bacon!

OMFG, I have to make this.

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:57:53 GMT

Maybe I'll make it tomorrow. Or this weekend. Or something.

But, OMFG, I have to make this Crockpot Maple Ham.