WIP: in threes

One step forward, two steps back. This time, I had to take out about three inches because my gauge was getting progressively looser. Not good. Normally, I accept ripping back just as part of the process, but when I'm knitting on a deadline, it's a bit anxiety-inducing. Oh well. It'll get done. It had to. :)

Pepper Jack Cheese Biscuits

Question: What is better than freshly baked bread straight out of the oven?

Answer: Not much. Tonight's version comes in the form of southern style biscuits.

I make biscuits on a regular basis, mainly because they're so quick and easy. It takes 20 minutes, start to finish, and by the time they come out of the oven, the kitchen's clean too. I decided to vary it up a bit, throwing in a little bit of pepper jack I had in the fridge. The cheese added a good salty/spicyness, and I was still able to eat them with jam :)

WIP: in threes

It wouldn't be knitting if I didn't have to rip it out. One would think that I would know how to read a pattern by now (and a simple pattern, at that!), but apparently, no. Commencing: Take 2.

Pattern: in threes: a baby cardigan. Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red, which is a dream to work with. I had a skein and a third left over from another project, which is exactly enough for this little sweater #winning

Edited:

After 3 hours, I have 66g of yarn left (started with 136g), which means I'm more than half done!

Chocolate Nut Protein Shake

I still have quite a bit of the nut & seed bread leftover from last week. It hadn't really turned out but I didn't want to toss it, because it is fairly healthy and nutrient dense, and I was unsure what to do with the rest of it. 

My routine after spin class is to usually make a protein shake; tonight I thought I'd blend the bread in. Why not?

Taste-wise it was pretty good, but it didn't fully incorporate. I was left with a thin gruel at the bottom of the glass - mostly psyllium seed husks, I think - that had to be dug out with a spoon. Texture-wise, I think this would be good to mix into muesli. Next time.

Chocolate Cookie Cake

This was supposed to be chocolate sugar cookies. Instead it turned out to be more like a chocolate cookie cake.

Here's what happened:
The recipe called to combine melted butter with the brown sugar, until lumps dissolve. Well, it's been so dry lately that there was even less moisture in the brown sugar I used. In other words, I had brown sugar rocks. By the time I worked those out with my egg beater, the butter had turned to cream. Whoops! When I added it to the flour, it didn't absorb any. Milk, maybe? I added a cup, 1/4 at a time, until the consistency was similar to a cake batter. Into the oven it went; I checked on it every 15 minutes to see how it was behaving. 50 minutes total baking time, which is short for my oven.

In the end it was a mixed breed, with the texture of moist cake in the middle, and the dryness of a soft cookie on the top and bottom. I think adding one more egg would've helped balance out the batter as well. Either way, you can't go wrong when paired with a glass of milk!

Egg in Tomato Sauce

This is a pretty quick and simple breakfast dish I like making on occasion. I'll just fry an egg, then spoon pasta or tomato sauce over it. I like to season the tomato sauce a bit too; today I added smoked paprika and sriracha. With a little bit of toast, you can't go wrong!

Cesare's Egg

This was a recipe that came to my email via Tasting Table. When I saw the simplicity and richeness of ingredients, I knew I had to try it.

The original recipe is here. Since I couldn't find chestnuts I modified as follows:
- 2 oz almonds + 2 oz walnuts boiled and soaked for an hour. Ground in the food pro, with a little of the cooking liquid and a pinch of truffle salt.
- I had instant polenta on hand, so I used that instead, but cooked it in the almond/walnut cooking liquid, and mixed in the nut mixture and butter about halfway through cooking.
- I then sauteed chantrelle and hedgehog mushrooms together for the topping.

When I read this, I immediately thought "dinner party" so that's exactly what I prepared this for. Needless to say, the combination of polenta, parm, and a runny egg yolk, all topped with sautéed mushrooms and truffle oil was an indulgence! There are no leftovers :)

A Fortune, A Crane, A Ring

Spent most of the day at Strictly Sail, then scrambled at dinner for something to make. Fortunately, not only does my crew have great ideas about what to make, they participate too! Kate made a fortune teller, Natalie made a crane (amazing!), and I made a dollar ring.

Kringle

OMG this is so freaking good, I literally just ate a quarter of it in one sitting. I usually try to share my baked goods with family, friends, or coworkers, but this one may not last long enough!

The inspiration is that Racine, where I work, is known for their kringles. I might just dare that mine is better!

Leafy Pillow

I woke up on the wrong foot today, with my mood matching the weather: cold, dark, snowy, cloudy, grey, and generally miserable. (Anyone else completely sick of winter?) After work, I rushed home to crawl back into bed; the cold I've been fighting the past few weeks reared its head, too. In short, today sucked, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day. 

That said, I did manage to get out of bed long enough to make something for the blog. I changed my mind about four times about what to make, finally deciding to finish this pillow.

I'd knit these two leaf panels as part of this blanket about two years ago, but quickly got bored with the project and abandoned it. The idea to sew these together into a pillow has been with me for a while as well, but I never had enough of a reason to finish the project. Until now. (I'm a process creative rather than a project creative. Meaning, I enjoy the process more than the result.)

All that was left to do for this pillow was the finishing: weave in ends, block, sew, stuff. Voila!

Chocolate Mousse

For Christmas, my boss bought for each of us chocolate mousse and chocolate soufflé kits. I was pretty tired tonight and wanted something easy to make, so I pulled out the mousse kit. It was delicious, but very rich!

Nut & Seed Bread

So far, one of my favorite things about this blog is the encouragement (read: suggestions and requests) I get from my family and friends. Chad sent over this recipe by Sarah Britton for a nut and seed bread, so I gave it a shot.

Mind you, what resulted in my kitchen did not even come close to what is portrayed in Sarah's beautiful photographs. My biggest setback was that the bread did not actually bind. It fell apart midway through the baking, when the recipe dictates to remove it from the pan, and never really came together after that, despite my haphazard attempts to form it back to shape. I'm not a great baker, and I'm even worse when it comes to gluten-free baking, so I attribute my shortcomings to a lack of practice.

Other than that, the bread is actually quite good, very dense, and very textured. Being Eastern European, I'm used to dense breads, such as rye or pumpernickel, but the texture is something I hadn't experienced yet in a bread. I topped this slice with a bit of jam, perfect for a late night snack :)

Burgers

It's been a while since I've had a good burger, and even longer since I made one at home.

I seasoned the beef with salt, pepper, Spanish paprika, Hungarian paprika, cayenne, cumin, celery seed, and liquid smoke, and made 1/3 pound patties, grilling them on my roti pan. Burger toppings included lettuce, tomato, avocado, red onion, ketchup, mustard, and pepper jack cheese. The stack ended up so tall, I could barely take a bite!

Crepes

Crepes for breakfast this morning; recipe from Essential Pepin. Two fillings: one with that chocolate sauce that continues to be delicious and the second is a simple sugar and lemon mixture that my sister taught me how to make. She picked it up from a crepe shop while in Rhode Island.

The crepes were good, but the fun part for me is always in the making. I find so much joy in flipping them in the pan! :)

Onion Soup

This onion soup is fairly easy to make, and I've done a few iterations of it already. Tonight has been snowy and cold, so I thought a bowl of soup would be perfect to keep warm.

Usually I grate garlic and some onion into a pot of water, but today my garlic went bad. Instead I grated a shallot and sliced a white onion. I typically give the soup a base with concentrated veal stock - 1oz per 1 cup of water. 

I struggled a little getting the seasoning to where I wanted. I think the onion came out too sweet and the lack of garlic didn't help either. The broth, however, turned out perfectly :) Next time I think I'll try charring or grilling the onion beforehand, to see how that changes the dynamic in flavors.

Paper Stars

I learned how to make these little paper stars around Christmastime when I was about 9, during a Polish school lesson. I must've made hundreds of these as a kid, but it's been a few years since the last time I attempted it. I'm happy that I still remember how!

Banana Bread

Finally came out of the oven after an hour and a half. I'm too tired to dig in tonight, so this'll be breakfast tomorrow :)

Sugar Cookies, Take 2

Yesterday I made sugar cookies, and while very tasty, didn't quite meet my chewy preferences. I still had a bit of dough left, so I decided to experiment.

I made 2 additional batches, also using the 2.5 inch ring mold:

- rolled 1/8 inch thick, baked at 400 for 6 minutes 

- rolled 1/4 inch thick, baked at 400 for 8 minutes 

Both resulted in a chewier cookie, but neither quite support the cinnamon-spice topping. A frosting or glaze would've been better. Nevermind that I completely burned the bottoms of the 8 minute cookies and all I could taste was burn even after I scraped the bottom. 

I'll have to try again, but likely not tomorrow.

Sugar Cookies

I'm not good at cookies. For whatever reason, achieving the perfect cookie remains out of my grasp...so I guess that means I just have to practice until I get it right!

I made the dough quickly last night, then baked the cookies earlier today. This batch got rolled out to 1/8", baked at 400 for 8 minutes. I still have some dough left - I think I'll try making them slightly thicker the next round.

Instead of a glaze, I dusted them with a sugar, cinnamon, mace mix (2T, 1/2T, 1/4t, respectively) which actually made the cookie taste exactly like Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

Grilled Cheese

Mmmm...gooey and delicious grilled cheese :) That is all.

Eggs Benedict

I woke up this morning without a clue as to what to make today. I have to go grocery shopping, so I was limited to what was already in the pantry/fridge (not much), and I didn't feel like anything extravagant or like batch cooking. I also had to get some work done today, so crafting was also not an option.

I've been living by myself since 2010. While I love it, the difficulty comes in cooking for just myself. A few years ago, my sister gave me Judith Jones' The Pleasures of Cooking for One for Christmas. (Judith Jones was Julia Child's editor.) It was this book that I pulled off my shelf today, and the Eggs Benedict recipe called to me. (Possibly since we also discussed eggs benedict over dinner yesterday.) Additionally, Judith has a Hollandaise for One recipe to accompany the eggs benedict. It's simpler than I thought to make - egg yolk, butter, lemon juice, salt - and I modified it by adding a little mustard. 

So, Eggs Benedict: 1 slice toasted whole wheat bread, 3 slices of Canadian bacon, 1 poached egg, hollandaise sauce, freshly chopped parsley, and a good crack of freshly ground black pepper. A perfect brunch for one.

Spicy Lentil Soup

I hosted Mina and Natalie for dinner tonight. The weather continues to suck, so I thought soup might make the perfect meal. As I was taking inventory of my pantry and freezer, I came across the following ingredients: dal, veggie stock, gazpacho. I added an onion, couple carrots, celery, and various spices (saffron, Hungarian paprika, Spanish paprika, cayenne pepper, allspice, bay leaves, sesame oil, Sichuan pepper, smoked chili oil, preserved lemon...basically I dumped half my spice cabinet into the pot). I puréed about half the soup in the pot itself, and the hodgepodge of flavors melded together exactly as I wanted. 

Natalie brought over Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies, so we baked those, too :)

Szarlotka

Sui and I decided to have a drink after our training session. I brought Żubrówka and apple juice to make a szarlotka - otherwise known as a Polish apple pie. The drink itself tastes like a liquid version of apple pie!

Stack 'o Waffle Fries

Tonight, I had planned to make lentil soup. Instead, I got cajoled conned into having drinks with a few crewmates. We ended up at Chick-fil-a for dinner. I eat fast food so rarely that it somehow brings out the kid in me that just wants to play with my food. And so, I played jenga with my waffle fries. (For the record, the stack did fall on me 3 times as I was attempting to take this picture.)

Finn's Hat

About 4 months ago, a good friend of mine had a baby (well, technically, his wife had it), and I'd been wanting to make a hat for the kiddo ever since. I'm actually happy I waited to make it; apparently said kiddo is growing at an exponential rate. Had I made the hat earlier, it would've likely been too small. Instead, I made it to size. I hope they enjoy it and get some good use out of it - it's definitely cold enough!

The pattern is my own. CO 58 sts. Join in the round, start with a purl round. Knit garter st for 20 rounds (10 ridges). Knit st st for 10 rounds. Decrease 8 sts evenly. K2, k2tog around. K1, k2tog around. K2tog around for 2 rounds. 6 sts remaining. Cut yarn, pull through remaining sts.

I used about 75g of Misty Alpaca Hand Painted Chunky in Winter Queen. (100% Baby Alpaca - so soft!) Needle size: US10 1/2 (6.5mm)

Lemon Bread

I pretty much do all of my baking out of the Pillsbury Kitchens' Family Cookbook. I can't remember when or how I acquired it - in college seems to make the most sense to me - and I've never actually made a single savory recipe from it. Every baked good, however...delicious! The lemon bread is no exception.

I topped it with the chocolate sauce from a few days ago. That sauce is really becoming the gift that keeps on giving!

And in the photo, yes, I've already taken a bite! :)

Detox Tea

Still feeling under the weather, and the weather's going into a sub zero freeze over the next couple of days. Made detox tea to keep me warm and to keep my immune system fighting this cold.

From L to R: 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 slice fresh ginger, 3 whole cloves, 1/8 tsp turmeric powder, 1/16 tsp cayenne pepper. Pour boiling water over lemon juice and honey, steep ginger and spices for 5 minutes.

French Toast

I had initially planned to make a lamb dish for dinner tonight. Instead, I spent the day couped up with a head cold. Between that and the continued snow storm, breakfast for dinner was about all I could muster.

Hot Chocolate

I spent most of the day running around, so today's made thing ended up being quite simple. I took a couple tablespoons of the chocolate sauce I made yesterday and mixed it into a cup of hot milk. Kinda perfect for a cold, dreary, snowy Chicago day.

Cardamom Rice Pudding with Spicy Curry-Coconut Chocolate Sauce

Say that five times fast.

Since I'm still eating through holiday leftovers, I thought dessert might be a good thing to make today. Both the pudding and chocolate sauce recipes are from (what is turning out to be) my new favorite cookbook, Modern Sauces by Martha Holmberg.

I halved the pudding recipe (thus making two cups instead of four) and modified it by adding 3 cardamom pods to the rice/milk mixture while over heat.

I made the full chocolate sauce recipe, but with the following modifications: I used coconut milk powder instead of coconut milk. Since this was mixed with water, I think that it thinned out the sauce more than regular coconut like would have. I also used 70% chocolate, which had already been melted once. I think that between these two factors, the sauce was ultimately too thin. I added another 1oz of chocolate and adjusted the seasoning by putting an additional 1/2 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper into a tea bag and steeping it in the sauce for an additional 15 minutes. Straining the whole thing through a chinois finally gave me the result I wanted.

Blueberry Pancakes

In 2009, I set a craft goal for myself: make 52 projects in 52 weeks. I met my goal, but ever since then, my crafting has been spotty and inconsistent. I found the time when I could, but I knew I wasn't making nearly as much as I used to. Worse yet, I wasn't documenting any of it. In 2014, I want to reprise the exercise, but with a twist. This year, I am setting out to make something - one thing, or several - every day. I expect there to be a lot of posts about food/cooking and knitting (two natural hobbies for me), but I'm also curious to explore what else can be "made." I travel quite a bit for work, so I'm also interested in the challenge of creating when I'm away from home.

To kick off the new year, this morning I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. This was actually the first time I ever made pancakes, and I think they turned out well :)

I'm not sure yet what tomorrow will bring.. Until then, Happy New Year!