It's Been a While

Hello all, I have not posted for almost two months now because I wasn't sure what direction to take from here. I graduated from Oklahoma Christian University at the end of April so I am no longer a college student. After graduating I moved back home with my parents in Oregon to save up money. During this time I transferred David's Bridal's and I am now a bridal consultant at the Clackamas Store. In this time I have been working, seeing friends, sleeping and repeating that process over and over. I have still been cooking from time to time with my mom, in our kitchen at home and this kitchen is 5 times as spacious as the one in my apartment.

The current gourmet kitchen I have access to...

So while I am living here I will not be cooking on a college budget. I feel like I need a new name for my blog but I am not sure what to call it yet... Ideas anyone? For now I will write about the culinary adventures I will be taking with my mom and on some days my sister. Hope you enjoy and continue to read through this transition.

Homemade Lasagna

Homemade Lasagna with a ground beef marinara, topped with parmesan and mozzarella

I have had the ingredients for a lasagna for weeks. So long in fact, that the cottage cheese I was going to use went bad. After purchasing a new carton of cottage cheese I finally had the time to make it. Monday I didn't have any class so I made it then. It is a pretty simple recipe I got from my mom, but I used more budget friendly ingredients. I started by cooking the lasagna noodles in salted water for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then I browned a pound of ground beef with salt and pepper. (Generally I use garlic as well but did not have it at the time). Once the meat was browned I added mariana sauce purchased for 84 cents at Walmart. Then I added about 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning. While the sauce was simmering I made the filling using a carton of cottage cheese, a cup of parmesan and a cup of mozzarella, more Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. (Amount can vary to liking). As soon as I finished the filling and the sauce I drained the noodles and let them cool. When the noodles cooled I started the layering process. I put down a layer of noodles, sauce, and filling and repeated the process until finished. I originally topped it with mozzarella and parmesan but it didn't have enough moisture. So later I added more sauce and cheese to the top and it made it much better. Wednesday night I took it over to Mark and Sarah's apartment and had a double date dinner with them and Shane. Lasagna is not something you make for just two people, it is way too time consuming for that:)

Chicken Fajitas

Sliced chicken thighs with salt pepper and taco seasoning (this shows how much counter space I have to work with...)

Homemade Chicken Fajitas with mozzarella cheese, salsa and tortilla chips

I have not posted anything in about a month, it has been busy. I left for spring break on a rock climbing trip in the Wichita Mountains and came back to rehearsal for the show I am in now. Anyway, I finally felt the urge to cook again, so before rehearsal on thursday I made dinner. I have not been to the store in a few weeks so I was pretty limited on my resources. I had two chicken thighs that I salted and peppered. then I cooked them on my cast iron until they were a little underdone. Then I removed them from the pan and placed them on a cutting board. After they cooled I used a serrated knife to cut the chicken into slices. Generally this works better with chicken breasts, but I only had thighs. After I removed all the meat from the bone I placed the strips back into the pan on low heat and sprinkled about 1 1/2-2 TB taco seasoning. This is when the chicken was able to fully cook without overcooking it. While I was doing the chicken I heated another pan with a little olive oil and placed each tortilla on it to get them warm and crispy. After those were finished I divided the chicken into each tortilla and topped it with shredded mozzarella cheese (because I ran out of cheddar). Then I carefully wrapped them and topped the whole thing with mild salsa. The chips on the side were commandeered from the cafeteria. If I had more resources I would have added onions, lettuce, tomatoes and all the great things that go on a fajita, but for what I had it ended up being pretty tasty.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Baked Macaroni & Cheese topped with shredded cheese and homemade toasted breadcrumbs

Pretty much every OC student does their grocery shopping at Walmart. It's not ideal for gourmet meals, but I have been trying my best. At Walmart, the cheapest brand is called "great value" some products still taste pretty great, others however, are disgusting. One unfortunate great value purchase I made was their 30 cent macaroni and cheese. I made it a few weeks ago and the cheese mix had the consistency of paste. I didn't want to waste the perfectly good noodles, so I saved them for this recipe idea.

The other day, I was watching Rachel Ray and learned how to make my own bread crumbs. for the past few weeks I have been saving the heels of various types of bread and freezing them, then when I was ready to use them I toasted them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5-8 minutes and then let them cool a bit. Then I put them in a food processor to turn them into bread crumbs. (They are an important aspect of this recipe) I found this recipe on Foodnetwork.com. I did not use the onions or paprika, and I also used regular dijon mustard for the sauce and felt like it worked well.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Homemade Mini Toffee Cheese Cake

Making the batter and spooning it into the muffin tins

Finished product of the Mini Toffee Cheese Cakes, with a homemade graham cracker crust

I used the leftover batter and crust and laid it in a loaf pan to make a whole cheese cake, I used this pan because I don't own an actual cheese cake pan.

I got this recipe from food network.com and brought some of my own ideas into it. Instead of using peanut butter cups, I used some toffee chips I already had in my cupboard and some leftover brownie crumbs. I stirred these straight into the batter as opposed to placing a single mini peanut butter cup at the bottom of the muffin tin. I wanted chocolate in every bite:-)

Also, this is the first time I have ever made a graham cracker crust and it is so easy, there is really no reason to buy it pre-made (just another money saver idea)

Peanut Butter Cheese Cake Minis

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

12 bite-size peanut butter cups

Filling:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or almond extract

2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a standard muffin pan.

To make crust, in a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press crust into bottom of each muffin cup. Put 1 peanut butter cup into the center of each crust.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, flour, and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture over peanut butter cups and graham cracker crusts. Bake until just set, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving.

I suggest putting these in the refrigerator about 10 minutes after they leave the oven, to quicken the cooling process. I also learned that once they have been refrigerated it is a lot easier to remove the baking cups from the cheese cakes.

Smoked Paprika Salmon

Baked Salmon with a smoked paprika and mayonnaise topping. sides include a brown rice and quinoa mix, carrot sticks and of course, applesauce

This meal was relatively easy, and Shane helped so it made it even easier. We started with one frozen salmon fillet and covered it in a thin layer of mayonnaise and sprinkled smoked paprika. Then we put it into the oven, on a cast iron pan for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. We this fillet was thicker on one side than the other, so the thicker side did not cook all the way through. One way to fix this is to nuke it in the microwave for 1 minute (we learned this after eating it of course.) Microwaving it brings out the nice flaky texture. For the sides all we had to do was heat up the already made rice, slice the carrots and pour the applesauce. It was easy and delicious and only took about 30 minutes. I could send this idea to Rachel Ray and maybe get a few dollars... just kidding :-) Until next time.

Homemade Brownie Bites

fresh homemade brownies, straight out of the oven

This recipe came from my mom, she used it to make brownies for her family when she was young and could get it done within one commercial break. I started making them for the house church I help lead every Thursday night. It is a simple recipe, you can even make it without an electric mixer. I bake them in a casserole dish and then cut them into little bite size pieces so that I have enough for the people at house church. Everyone loves these brownies, they are moist, sweet and delicious. Thanks to my mom for the great recipe, I hope I can memorize it soon. Here it is if you want some simple yummy brownies.

Lori's Brownies:

1 1/2 cup flour

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup shortening or butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

7 tbsp cocoa powder

mix these ingredients together, butter cake pans or shallow casserole dishes. (do not use a loaf pan, it will take forever to cook, I learned that one from experience.) Pour in the batter and cook for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Enjoy:)