gluten dough=best thing ever

My friend Jenny has recently decided to eat a vegan diet as well as document this change in diet on her blog Hibbard Kitchen. She did a post on Seitan and I was totally curious to see just how easy was this stuff to make, does it 'taste like chicken' and is it easy to cook with/store in the fridge.

You can visit Jenny's blog for a recipe for the dough. I used that recipe the first time then improvised the ingredients on my second batch. This stuff is so freakin' east to make. I'm reminded of Truvy's dessert recipe in Steel Magnolias...cupa, cupa, cupa.


{cupa flour, cupa broth}


{that's it? that's it}


{forget the whisk, immediately get to kneading this stuff. ps-it's way sticky}


{don't feel like getting sticky, ask the nearest 4 year old to have at it}


{just before boiling, looks weird huh? espen conducting a sniff test}


{all done}

I ended up making the Kung Pao Seitan recipe that Jenny recommended. I added red, yellow and green bell peppers as well as water chestnuts. And of course, I quadrupled the sauce. IT WAS AMAZING!

Two nights ago I made it again but this time I added Garam Masala, Ground Coriander and Cayenne Pepper to the mix and went a little easy on the sauce. I actually made enough for Jeremy and I both to eat, but I ended up eating it all while he was still at work. I had no problem making it again when he got home because the seitan is super easy to work with. Had it been chicken I would have had to deal with raw chicken (which scares me), then I'd have to wait forever to cook it.

My modified Kung Pao was a hit, Jeremy and I both loved it. I loved it so much I even made it again last night and will probably make it again tonight!

Don't be scared to try this one or think it's too new agey or hippy or what ever. It's super easy to make, lasts forever, is low in calories and high in protein. Tastes amazing, it basically soaks up all of the flavors of what ever it's cooked with. I just might eat this everyday for the rest of my life.

cream cheese ice cream

I'm not sure what reminded Espen about the Ice Cream machine that we gave to my Mom for Christmas but something did and he would not stop talking about it. He called my mom and asked her to bring it down so we could borrow it.

Last night we stopped off at the store for the ingredients and as we were in line I realized I forgot sugar...who forgets a main ingredient of a 3 ingredient recipe? Me, I guess. We had just run out of sugar that morning so I knew we couldn't leave without it. After another weird trip to Fry's (I swear I'm never going there AGAIN) we made it home and got to work on the ice cream.

The recipe I used was already modified from another recipe and I even ended up tweaking it even more. Not for the taste so much but because I don't own a mixer and couldn't for the life of me get the cream cheese to mix with the milk and sugar. I ended up straining the cream cheese out and adding a lot more milk. Espen tossed some fresh blueberries and chunks of strawberry in and we also added a bit of lemon extract, in the end, it was freakin' delish and ice cream is SO easy to make.








A trip to the store wouldn't be complete without a cube of Geitost. Espen was excited to show off his cutting skills. He pushed my sharp knife away and grabbed a 'big boy knife', you know, a butter knife and sliced away.




{this face is quickly becoming the norm when I say 'smile!'}

more cake balls

When my parents invited us up for the annual Ravioli eating contest on Palm Sunday there was no way we could say no. My mom and I were talking on the phone and she was explaining to me all that she needed to buy and do in order to make the raviolis and then mentions that she isn't sure what to make for dessert! I couldn't very well expect her to cook ravioli and prepare a dessert. I made raviolis one year, I was 4 months pregnant and it was awful. I don't know how my mom does it, and I know it sounds awful but I am not ready to offer to take over the making and baking of the raviolis. Well, shoot, maybe next year.

In the mean time, I have no problem preparing these little goodies. When my mom brought up dessert, the first thing I thought of were Cake Balls so through out the day on Saturday I made them. I like that you can start and stop through out the day, it doesn't really matter how long you wait in between baking, adding icing, balling, cooling and rolling in the chocolate.

Espen was in my face every step of the way. 'Mom can I lick the spoon, Mom, Mom, can I lick the spoon???' I of course completely caved at his requests. What kind of party pooper mom won't let their kid have at the fingerlicking fun of the last bits of cake mix.






{a happy puppy}

A couple of licks of the batter just isn't enough. Once the batter is in the pan the real fun begins.





I tried to experiment a little bit with color this time. I used both milk and white chocolate but half way through the batch of white I thought I'd add some color to it. I ended up scorching most of the colored chocolate but got a few cute ones made before giving up. Espen helped me decorate them with sprinkles. They turned out super cute and SUPER delish!


{pretty cake balls}

{yummy cake balls}


Such a fun sweet treat to make and I think there were only a dozen or so left of the 50 that I made. Ha!

garam masala with briyani rice & veggies and a whole lot of nothin'

That's what I remember doing on Saturday.

I wanted to run to the grocery store by myself, but Espen wanted to go with me. I didn't want to take him because I had a lot of weird spices to buy and needed to concentrate, which is hard to do when he is jumping in, on and around the shopping cart (which has a huge fake car in the front for kids to sit in, I'm sure you've seen them). If Espen was going to go with me that meant that Jeremy needed to go as well so we could tag team the situation.

The plan backfired, Espen was all over the place, Jeremy didn't want to be in the store with Espen throwing tantrums so he took him out to the car which meant I was stuck pushing around the huge fake car shopping cart, sans child and looking ever so cool.

In the end I found all of my spices...and Starbucks so I was happy.

We were pretty lazy during the afternoon. Espen spent most of the day playing with his Moonsand. He was excited because I laid a tablecloth on the ground for him to play on instead of being confined to our tiny coffee table. It was surprisingly not messy and super easy to clean up. I love Moonsand.

After laying around the house for a couple of hours I decided it was time to start on the nights dinner. Oh my gosh! This meal was so incredible. I of course have a few things I would tweak but for the most part if you follow the recipe found here and here, you will be in Indian food heaven.

{Yum. Onions, serrano chili pepper, garlic and ground ginger}

{In the pan it goes}

{coriander.cumin.cumin seeds.cayenne pepper.paprika.garam masala.turmeric}

{spices & chickpeas}

On to the rice and vegetables.

{carrots.onions.brocolli.cauliflower plus spices for the rice & veggies}

{done}

{on the plate & ready to eat}

It didn't last long. It was so freakin' delicious. I would probably add more tomatoes to the chickpea dish and use a bit less cayenne pepper next time but other than that it was amazing. We ate the leftovers last night in pitas with hummus, SO GOOD!

{buh bye dinner}

biryani rice & chana masala

Alright, so it's not the most flattering photo of food, it was taken with my crappy camera phone but what it lacks in beauty it surely made up for in taste AND simplicity. Thanks to Trader Joe's that is.

I found a couple of recipes for both Biryani Rice and Chana Masala & will try to make them this weekend, yum!

best crock pot recipe so far - provençal lemon and olive chicken

Disney Family once again has included another fabulous Crock Pot recipe on their site. No joke, this was unbelievably good.

I got home from work by 5:30 last night which left me 30 minutes to prep the food, change out of my work clothes and head over to my hair appointment. I decided to make Provençal Lemon and Olive Chicken . Yum. I raced around the kitchen(and outside to cut onions) cutting up chicken, dumping in spices, slicing lemons, pulling out seeds and boiling up some broth.

I set the Crock Pot on high and ran out the door at 6:06 and arrived at my appointment just in time. Everytime I see Roberto for a haircut we always end up talking about movies and TV shows, especially the obscure ones. He'll mention some far off film and I'll tell him how I have seen it 10 times and then I'll mention one and he'll tell me how he has the soundtrack to it on his iPod. He even knew Death Race 2000.

After a quick trim I was on my way home. Jeremy finished giving a make up exam and had to pick Espen up from his parents house, which worked out well. The food was supposed to cook in the crock pot for 3-3.5 hours on high so we wouldn't be able to eat it till after 9:00 anyway. After chatting with his folks, Jeremy didn't end up getting home till 9, perfect. Espen was out like a light when they got home so we tucked him in and went straight for the Crock Pot.



Holy cow, this was AMAZING. Seriously. I was squawking and yelping after every bite, I think Jeremy was a bit annoyed, ha. Like everything I make in the 'Pot' I would do some minor tweaking the ingredients on the next go round. I'd probably add a bit more onion, chicken broth and olive juice and use less salt. I'd also pull the lemons out of it before stirring it all together which they don't tell you to do in the recipe. We ate it out of bowls like a soup almost, but I think serving it over rice, like they pictured it on Disney Family would help out with the saltiness.

This was one of my favorite Crock Pot recipes so far and I'll definitely be making it again, soon.

Make this tonight, seriously. Make it.

cream cheese chicken with a side of sorcery

I have found a few yummy recipes on DisneyFamily.com and last nights Cream Cheese Chicken & Broccoli was no exception. It's intended to be a Crock Pot meal, but I was in a hurry last night so I just made it on the stove.



I started out with some olive oil and chicken in a pan with Italian dressing mix. I hate to touch uncooked chicken so this time I let the chicken cook a bit before I cut it into chunks. I also took the onion outside on the front porch to chop it since the last time I cut an onion in the house I nearly lost my vision. From there I just tossed all of the ingredients in...the soup, the onion, the sherry (oh the sherry, so good). The only thing I left out were the mushrooms because I think they're gross and I waited till the end to add the broccoli. Ooh that bag of broccoli, it was one of those 'microwave in the bag' types but I didn't realize it until after 3 minutes of struggling to get it open and then slicing it open with a knife. Only then did I read the package where it says in bold 'DO NOT PUNCTURE THE BAG'. Hardy har bag of broccoli, you got me.



I could've eaten the entire pan full of sauce on my own, it was SO GOOD but instead I decided to share some with Jeremy and Espen. We cooked up some noodles and to the plate it went.


Can you guess who's drinking what?

In the end this dinner was amazing although next time we'll do less chicken, maybe cut a bit smaller as well and add some fresh garlic to the mix...and I'd skip the noodles all together, Ha!

Last night Jeremy put on one of the two movies he saw at the MadCap Theater this weekend, a lovely little film called Stunt Rock featuring the band Sorcery. If you want to see the trailer click here. I'm not sure which movie was better, our Sunday night movie Death Race 2000 or last nights Stunt Rock. Both were equally as horrible but amazing at the same time. If you ever have the chance to watch them you must, they are that bad/good.





Just for the heck of it:
Jeremy just sent me this picture from Sunday, it pretty much sums up our day. I'm a bit bummed that I look like such a goof but seriously, how cute is Espen, who crawls on your back and lays down to watch TV, really.

cake balls

I decided to give Cake Balls a try this weekend and man, I am so glad I did. Who ever came up with the cake ball is a genius. Bakerella has an amazing site filled will all things sweet and delicious, her cake pops are freakin' adorable.

You couldn't get more simple when it comes to ingredients. You basically pick a cake mix, buy some frosting, mash it together and there. Cake Balls.


Forgot to picture oil...but seriously, this was it.

While at the store this morning I bought Espen a Junior Chef Bake Set that was marked as clearance at Fry's. I kind of thought it may turn out to be a piece of junk but it was actually pretty cute. While I mixed up the Cake Ball ingredients Espen mixed up his own concoction which included flour, water and various sprinkles.

First he had to steal some of my water.





Jeremy came out from the bedroom and saw this sitting on the stove and with much concern in his voice asked why the cake was broken! Ha. I just thought it would help it cool faster this way.



While the cake was cooling Espen asked if we could bake what he had made. Sure, why not? It was greenish/black liquid, but let's stick it in the oven and see what happens. Well, this is what happens. You get speckled black rubber pads in your muffin tin.



Espen wasn't sure what to make of them. They looked pretty gross, even to the 3 year old creator.



But that didn't stop him from having fun with them.



By this time the cake was cool and I was ready for the messy part. Mushing up the cake and icing and making little balls. FUN!





I eventually ended up adding some yellow food coloring to the mix since we used a Lemon cake mix and went with White Chocolate.







Not bad, not bad. It was after about 15 or so that I finally got the hang of rolling them in the melted chocolate so that they didn't turn out so lumpy. I had a weird little spoon shaking technique that ended up working really well. I should post a video, hilarious.

Espen wasn't too interested in coating the cake balls, he opted for chopping up a piece of chocolate bark in a mini skillet.



What a fun dessert to make and man, we have plenty to share, I'll most likely be bringing some left overs to work with me on Monday, that is, if I don't eat them all first.