Pumkin Cookies, A Little Late for Halloween!

So, I know I haven’t been posting lately. I also haven’t been making much food lately. Mostly just other recipes I’ve found online. I’ve made Alton Brown’s pancakes and random soup recipes, mostly. Well, tonight I finally decided to get off my butt and make pumpkin cookies. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

Makes 24 cookies

You’ll need:

3 eggs

1/4 cp honey

3/4 oil

1 cp brown sugar

3 cp flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cp pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Combine 3 eggs, ¼ cup honey, ¾ cup oil, 1 cp brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 ½ cup pumpkin puree, and mix.

2. Add 3 cups flour, 2 tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tbs cinnamon, and 1 tsp cayenne pepper.

    
     3. Mix until it becomes the consistency of cookie dough, which is like a sticky pasta.

      4. Place in 2 spoon scoops onto greased cookie pans. I used three cookie pans for this recipe.

      5. Bake for 8 minutes before removing cookies. Wait to cool and then you can eat them. You’ll    get a really chewy, pumpkin flavored cookie.

I hope you’ll enjoy that one. If you want to make the pumpkin puree from scratch, follow these directions. Take your pumpkin, remove seeds, and cut your pumpkin into pieces. Place those pieces fleshy side up on a baking sheet for 30 minutes. You could probably just as easily microwave them, but you can fit more pieces in an oven. For this recipe, I used the puree of half of a large pumpkin. This was the first time I’ve done this so I wasn’t sure how much I need to make. Either way, when done baking, scoop out the flesh from the skin with a spoon or fork. Place it into a blender and puree for 3-5 minutes. What you get is what you’ll use for your cookies, or really anything else you want to make with pumpkin puree.

I hope that’s been helpful to you. Good day lovelies.

Cinnamon Apple Egg Rice

I haven’t really been cooking lately, sorry. But I’ve got a lovely dish for you today. It’s a sweet rice and egg dish.

You’ll need:
1/2 medium apple
2 cloves of garlic
2 eggs
1 ¼ cp rice
2 ½ cps water
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
Serves: 1

1. Put your rice and water into a pot to boil. Put a few dashes of salt and pepper along with that. It should take about 20 minutes. Cooking the rice is the longest part of this recipe. You could also use instant rice if you really need an instant meal though.
2. Dice your garlic and apple into small pieces.

3. Beat the two eggs in a separate bowl. This helps make them fluffier and tastier.
4. When your rice has been cooked, start cooking your eggs in another pan. Stir in garlic and apple after egg has started cooking.
5. Serve egg mixture on top of rice. Sprinkle cinnamon in center of plate. Garnish plate with the other half of the apple, if so desired (I didn’t this time).

That’s about it for this meal. It’s my lunch! Please enjoy it as much as I have.

I Luv Halloween

Alright, it’s Halloween time! SWEET! Time for sweets. No other posts lately cause I’ve been eating butternut squash soup my mom made and delicious sandwiches from some deli.

But, yeah, Halloween cupcake time!

You’ll need:

2 eggs

2 1/2 cps flour

1 cp sugar

1 cp butter

1/2 cp brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 cp oil

1/4 cp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Next, mix up the 2 eggs with your mixer (of course) until you have a foamy consistency.
3. Add ½ cp brown sugar and when that’s mixed in also mix in the cup of sugar.

    4. Mix in your cup of butter.

   5. Next, add 1 tsp vanilla extract, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 3 tbs of cocoa powder, and 2½ cps of flour.

6. When it’s thoroughly mixed, add ¼ cp of oil and ¼ cp of milk until you have a smooth, silky consistency. You’ll need to mix for a few minutes.

7. Add batter by two spoonfuls to cupcake tins. Tip: Cupcake batter about doubles in size during the baking process. You’re only going to need to fill the tins half to three quarters of the way full.

8. Bake for about 6 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

9. Wait until cupcakes cool before adding frosting. I know that there’s poor photo quality on this last photo. I tried maybe eight times and it just doesn’t want to come out. Better luck next time, I suppose. As for the designs, I tried to imitate spider webs I’ve seen on many cupcakes at http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/

I just made frosting circles and then used a knife to run the frosting umbrella styled so the lines would interconnect. It looks alright, but I reckon I need more practice.

That’s it for tonight. Soon I’ll have some pumpkin recipes up. As Halloween ends, of course. I’m re-using the decorating pumpkins :) Night everyone! Stay safe on Halloween.

Hey everyone! Today we’re going to have some delicious recipes. I’m starting off with my scallion fish burger! Tastes a bit like tilapia. I’ll say it right now; this is going to be messy. Any time I ever make things with flour, it turns into a giant mess. If anyone has tips to avoid said mess, I’d love to hear them. But anyways…

You’ll need:
1 7oz can of tuna fish
1 scallion
1 egg
1 cp flour
2 tbs oregano
A few slices of Cranberry sauce (optional)
1 apple, cut into wedges.

1. Put ½ tbs of butter in a skillet on low-medium.
2. Combine 1 cp flour, 2 tbs oregano, and 1 scallion, finely diced in one bowl.
3. In separate bowl, beat one egg until it has a very creamy texture.

4. Take half of the can of tuna (be sure to drain it first)and dump it into the center of the flour bowl. Start forming a ball as much as possible before transferring your burger ball to the egg.

5. Cover the ball in egg before transferring it back to the flour. You’ll have to repeat this step about 2-3 times.
6. When it looks like a properly floured ball, you’re going to take it, flatten it to burger shape, and put it in your skillet. You’ll cook it about 5 minutes on the first side and 8 on the second, till it looks golden brown. You could, like me, cook one burger at a time, but the smart way to do it would be two burgers in a larger skillet.

7. Now, for plating, you could put your burger in a bun with lettuce and tomato and cheese…or whatever you want. It’s your burger. I, personally, suggest a plain burger with a slice of cranberry on top.
8. Surround your burger with your apples slices and you have a really delicious and healthy fish-fruit combo meal. (Two photos cause I took two and I just like them so much! :3)

Alternatively, you could use bread crumbs instead of flour for a more flavorful punch. The flour really gives more attention to the taste of the tuna, however. Try both, see what you like more. This is a really open-ended recipe. You add various kinds of onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, varying fruit or regular sauces, different buns…go wild!

In other news, I spoke with a representative from Le Cordon Bleu Pennsylvania Institute. His name was Barry and he was really friendly, helpful, and informative.
We were on the phone for about 1 ½ hours. It was crazy. I even made a frozen pizza for me to eat during it because, well, it’s rude to cook while you’re on the phone with someone. Not rude to eat, though? Hahaha.
Is seems like a really nice school. I’ve decided I want to take classes in baking rather than cooking, so he told me about that program. They teach about a lot of different kinds of breads and cakes, ganaches, soufflés, scones, and some other things I can’t recall. Their associate’s program is completed in 60 weeks, which is a time frame I just adore. The only thing I don’t like about this school is their confusing website. The information I know wasn’t gleaned from their website, but from the representative. When a school has a confusing website where I can’t easily find the information I need, I’m very turned off.
For example, I can’t find the tuition or even the rate per credit hour anywhere on the site even though I’ve been looking for several minutes. I know the tuition to be somewhere around $38,000 just because I asked. That amount includes uniforms, books, and equipment though. Also, that’s for the entire program. If you want to think about it, it’s $19,000 per year of a regular associate’s program, but squeezed into a little over one year. Not to mention, you get a 3 month paid externship in there.
Overall, it seems like a top-notch school. The price really isn’t that bad in comparison to other culinary programs. I gave a $50 application fee already. Strongly considering going to their program with a July 2010 start time. I want to get some more college credits before I transfer. Also, to save up some money so I can afford it, haha.

From my research so far, I get these results:

School: Le Cordon Bleu Pennsylvania Institute
Tuition: 38,000
Length of Program: 60 weeks
Type of Program: Associates
Time frame of program: 7/7/10 - 9/23/11 as example, program starts many times per year
Type of Cuisine: French, general
Housing: yes
Transfer Credits: yes
Percentage of students that graduate with jobs: 99%
Average salary of grads: varies
Faculty in field: yes, a good percentage of them

School: Art Institute of Philadelphia
Tuition: 17, 280
Length of Program: 1 year
Type of Program: Diploma
Time frame of program: unknown
Type of Cuisine: international/varied
Housing: 30% of students housed
Transfer Credits: yes
Percentage of students that graduate with jobs: 89%
Average salary of grads: 21,000
Faculty in field: some, but not a lot as far as I can tell

School: Institute of Culinary Education
Tuition: 27, 717 for morning/afternoons, 26, 334 for evenings/weekends
Length of Program: 30 weeks (I think?); it’s 610 hours which includes an externship. It varies depending if you take the day or evening program.
Type of Program: Diploma
Time frame of program: unknown
Type of Cuisine: European and American
Housing: yes
Transfer Credits: unknown, doesn’t seem applicable though because you only learn baking here.
Percentage of students that graduate with jobs: unknown
Average salary of grads: unknown
Faculty in field: yes

School: Culinary Institute of America
Tuition: 28,000/year
Length of Program: 21 months or 38 months
Type of Program: Associates’ and Bachelors’
Time frame of program: 4 times a year to apply
Type of Cuisine: variety
Housing: yes
Transfer Credits: yes
Percentage of students that graduate with jobs: unknown
Average salary of grads: 25,000-30,000 (AS), 30,000-35,000 (BA)
Faculty in field: yes


That took longer than it should to gather…I’m tired, heh.

I hope it was helpful to someone out there. Night folks. Look forward to spaghetti squash recipes over the coming days. My mom got a whole box of them, despite that fact that we've never bought any kind of squash before. Oh mom....

CAAKE? BAKE CAKE.

Alright, chocolate cake time! And yay it’s my first baking post! It’s a plain chocolate cake with frosting.

You’ll need:

1 ½ cps flour

3 squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate

Water

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tbs cocoa powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cp sugar

2/3 cp butter

3 eggs

1.      Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Flour, wax paper, and butter up said wax paper like in the photo. Two 9-in pans.

2.   Melt three squares baking chocolate in ½ cp of water. Put the microwave on for about 10 seconds before taking it out, stirring, and repeating until you have a liquid-y chocolate sauce. Set aside.

3.      Combine 1 ½ cps flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp salt. Set aside for a minute.

4.      Combine 1 cp sugar and 2/3 cp butter and beat for a minute. Add the 3 eggs one at a time, beating in slowly.

5.      Then, alternate between pouring the chocolate sauce and the flour mixture. It will change colours every time you do so, and it will be cool.

6.      Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. Then take it out and let it cool before adding the frosting.

Okay, so about that frosting…Yes, it will also be homemade. Because homemade wins!

You’ll need:

½ cp confectionaries’ sugar

¼ cp light brown sugar

¼ cp white sugar

3 tbs orange juice

1.      Cream butter.

2.      Slowly add the sugars. Pour a little orange juice now and again. Don’t pour it too fast or you’ll mess up the consistency. Like I did =D

3.      That’s it, really. Mine turned out pretty liquid-y, but then I added too much orange juice. Don’t do that and you’ll be fine. If you do anyways, keep adding white sugar until the consistency improves.

When your cake has cooled, transfer one cake to serving plate. Spread frosting on it. Place second cake on top. Frost the whole thing now. I also made some "nice" designs using some store-bought frosting.

Now you’ve got yourself a delicious cake. Enjoy!

LOVE

Sorry I haven’t posted in the past few days. The pancake scallion recipe turned out really badly so I obviously wasn’t going to post it. Besides that, I haven’t cooked anything. I’ve been eating take out food.
Speaking of which, I went to Checkers last night and had a rather horrible experience. Their cashier lady was really rude and impatient with me. It was raining heavily (drive-thru) and I couldn’t see the menu and it was hard to hear her. Top that with the fact that they apparently no longer carry philly cheese steak burgers and I had to pick something new on the spot…Yeah, she kept yelling at me. I also managed to spill two, large cherry Fantas all over my car thanks to the guy who stopped in the middle of the road for no reason right in front of me. Thank God we weren’t in heavy water or I probably would have slid into his car. When I finally got home, the cheese burgers I did get were pretty crappy. Too much mayo, not enough burger taste. I’m not getting food from Checkers anymore, even if their fries are good.
On that note, tonight’s dinner is a sweet chicken. It’s pretty simple. It’s just a dry rub on some chicken that I’m cooking.
You’ll need:
1 cp light brown sugar
1 tbs salt
2 tbs pepper
½ tbs cayenne pepper
1 tsp tartar powder
½ cp all-purpose seasoning

1.Mix all of the dry ingredients up.
2.Rub them onto the raw chicken, covering as much surface as possible.

3.Put the chickens into an aluminum pan and stick into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. The wait will be worth it. The slower you cook something, the juicier it’ll be!

Okay, that’s it. Really simple.

I had a side of corn on the cob with this meal, as well as sweet potato fries and arepas. It was all frozen stuff, so no recipes on them. However, if you have some fresh ears of corn, you can grill it like this:
1. Soak whole corn for 8-10 minutes in water. Do not remove the husks.
2. Grill until husks become slightly blackened.
3. Remove from heat and let it cool down before you peel the husks away. Apply butter if you so desire.
Alternatively, you could just boil fresh corn in water for around 10 minutes.

That’s all for now. I might bake a chocolate cake tonight though, so we’ll see how that goes.

As far as what I’m going to do with my life…my community college has a culinary certificate, a baking certificate, and a culinary management associates’ degree. The culinary certificate program only has a few courses related to actual food preparing. Most of it is management classes as well as food safety and selection classes. Which is fine, but I’m looking for more cooking classes. The baking program is more involved with the actual baking aspect. It has a basic baking, a decorating class and a “professional pastry” class. The cooking is like, basic cooking and garde manager. As the days go by, I’m thinking that I’d rather be a baker anyways. I cook and bake now, but there’s still a lot I don’t know that I’d like to be instructed in by someone who actually knows what the hell they’re doing.

I’ve been looking at the Art Institute in Philadelphia, Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. All of them have nice diploma programs as well (except CIA which is only associates+). They also have associates’ programs as well but honestly, as far as I can tell from the college’s statistics, diploma and associates graduates make about the same money. I think with enough basic education I can supplement anything I don’t learn in school. I’m probably going to go with the program at my community college, unless I get some serious scholarship money. Pretty much with either program I can start when the current semester is over. It’s just down to cost. I don’t have a lot of money, and I reckon I can’t get a $20K loan.
I am most considering the school in Philadelphia. It’s only a year for the baking and pastry program, and it covers a lot of baking topics without dealing with all the regular school stuff that I’ve had enough of after 1 ½ years at community college. It’s a good chunk of money, but I figure I could pay it off a year or two after I graduate, so it’s really not so bad. I really hope I CAN get that $20K loan. We’ll see. I’d also have to move to Philadelphia. I don’t have a particularly good opinion of the city.
The Culinary Institute’s program probably comes off as the most professional and prestigious. At least, that’s the impression I got from their brochure =D I do believe they’re the most expensive, but not by much.
All of the programs at the fancy private institutions looked like they covered a lot of ground and dedicated more class time to specific areas. All of the programs involve internships, which is something I would not go without. That real life experience is needed and will probably be the most useful part of the curriculum.
I’m going to make an appointment with the Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (RE: the food major at cc) advisor and talk to her about what I actually learn in the program before I decide.
Those are my musing for tonight. Hope it was entertaining…

Soupy Soup

Hey, guess what? I got out of class early today so I have time to cook myself lunch before work. It’s a very simple dish, but hey, some people need simple meals for their fast-paced lives. For lunch today I will present you with a noodle soup.

Servings: 2

Noodle Soup

You’ll need:

2 oz pasta shells (just a shake of the box really, less than a quarter)

1 celery stalk

1 carrot

1 chicken bullion cube/powder packet

2 scallions

2 sprigs of cilantro

1 small potato

            1. Set water to boil, about half a pot and add your bullion cube.

2. Peel the skin off of the potato and carrot. You can cut then cut the potato in half so you have a nice flat surface; then dice said halves. Cut the celery, carrots, and scallions into small pieces.

3. When the water is boiling, dump all of your cut veggies into the pot and cover with a lid. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Go relax somewhere while you wait.

4. When all is said and done, put the pasta in and leave your soup to cook without the lid for another 10 minutes. Also, add a little more water so the pasta is covered.

5. When it’s ready to serve, add the cilantro into the soup. Now you’re ready to eat. Enjoy!

That’s my really simple soup. Flavorful and healthy…well, it has a lot of sodium, but that’s pretty much a given with soup. I wish you well and I will see you with my pancakes tomorrow. Because I know I won’t have time to cook dinner tonight. Very important social engagement to go to. Farewell~