Cooking Escapades

2008-05-26T11:46:00.001-07:00

I tried my first specialty coffee: Black Forest Cake Coffee

Ingredients:

Single cup:
(2tbsp) chocolate syrup
(1tbsp) cherry juice
(4oz) coffee
Whip cream
Chocolate shavings -or- Cherry

Result 1 (Kristie doesn't like cherries):

Result 2 (I love cherries ;)):

2008-01-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

I know its been a while, but I found a new passion in the kitchen - coffee. Reasons to roast your own coffee beans include the fact that its supposed to taste way better (yet to be confirmed), an old popcorn popper suffices (3 cheers for no extra gear), and the cost of it is way lower than buying pre-roasted beans / already ground.

So I found this outlet green bean coffee place really close to campus and spent 20 bucks or so on coffee:

Roasting method? Toastmaster Popcorn Popper.

The thing shoots off a load of chaff (the shell casings of the beans) - something I didn't know.

Unfortunately, the first batch I simply timed and didn't watch/smell/listen to what was going on. Bad move - I ended up burning the beans and filling the apartment with smoke.

The second batch was much more successful and they came out at a nice Medium / City roast:

Like I said, still don't know how it will taste in the morning (you need to let the CO2 vent for at least 6 hours, but fingers crossed it will at least be on par with the other stuff we buy/grind/drip/drink. Oh and the bean chosen for this first attempt was the Tanzanian Peaberry. Cheers...

2007-02-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Spaghetti Squash

So 1 post a year it seams ;). We had spaghetti squash quite often during the summer and just cracked it out again last night. Managed to take quite a bit of pictures too...so the ingredients:

We ended up adding some extra stuff (tomatoe sauce, pesto sauce, mushrooms, etc). Typically we would have used press garlic but we were all out of cloves :p.

So first we cut the thing in two and scooped it out. It's pretty much like the center of a pumpkin (bet you could bake the seeds too).

After cutting them up and scooping the insides they should bake at least half an hour at roughly 400F. We baked them face down on a tin-foil sheet.

Afterwards we scraped the spaghetti strands out of the squash with a fork. You can tell it's done when it's soft all the way to the shell (i.e. poke it).

Meanwhile we cooked/heat up the the rest of the ingredients. Timed it so the ingredients were done at the same time as the squash.

Once the squash was all stripped, mix in a huge ass bowl...sprinkle on the cheese...and serve.

All in all it's really easy. Yes that means something coming from me - check out the fondue post ;). Cheers.

2006-04-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

Cheesy Asparagus-Chicken Lasangna
a la Kristie and Christian

1tsp canola or olive oil

3boneless skinless chicken breasts
1tsp prepared garlic
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1 Onion
15 or so, Mushrooms
1 can (284 ml) cheddar cheese soup
1 can (284 ml) milk
1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and thyme
12 oven-ready lasangna noodles
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 + 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 can (340ml) asparagus (save liquid)

-Lovely isn't it? Was very tasty too, and lasted us about two meals... will last you more if you're less of a pig.

-This is from our Cooking for the Rushed cookbook that was handed down to us from Christian's family... and seeing as we are always in a rush (well Christian at least) it's really come in handy.

See how enthusiastic Christian is about the deliecious lasanga?

And notice how everything looks attractive next to the lasangna?

Let me know if you want any further instructions on how to put it all together

Enjoy!

Kristie

2005-01-12T16:15:00.000-08:00

This blog will chronicle the adventures into the wonderful world of the culinary arts. For those of you who don't know me, I'm not all that swift around a kitchen. Just too many things that aren't discretely laid out for someone cooking. "Add salt until it tastes just right."...pfft....

Well first downfall was the fondu attempted in Jan. 2005. What we've learned? A standard fondu pot is not a substitute for a dessert fondu pot. i.e. your chocolate will start a fire.

Recipe: Failed

Evidence: