cookies....

My cookies came out alright... however, the coconut balls came out a little too sweet for me but hey are good.

My shortbread was weird...it will turn out alright I guess the second time around....

I willpost photos of the coconut balls tomorrow... :)

Merry eve to you and yours if you are reading this...

christmas cooking?!

So there are times when I could cook up a storm and keep it going.  Lately my fuse has been short and it doesn't seem to be improving.  This last year has been unreal- unlucky and really crappy to say the least.  My idea for gift giving this year (execpt the core people in my life) will be to make cookies, coconut balls and peanut butter balls and put them into a little tin as a gift.

I've found recipes online for these recipes and they seem to be easy enough to make.  I just need to be in the right frame of mind to make them.. put good energy and thoughts into them so they could bring happiness and joy to those recieving them.

NYE will be celebrated with good friends (whom I call my family) and my home made pizza -  (curtesy of Amy P. my cooking encyclopedia ).

I have purchased the items for my recipes and will - if i'm up for it later tonight- will make some shortbread.

For my ONE follower (thank you for following - however long it's been) I hope not to disappoint.  Cooking Keeps Me Sane.  Maybe that's what I've been missing  besides sleep. Feel free to comment - I'll post the recipe links in my next posting and will provide pictures of the finished product.

:)

Carrots

I bought a small bag of carrots this afternoon.  The reason for this is because I saw a recipe in 'Cook with Jamie' called sticky saucepan carrots, I usually don't have carrots in the fridge becaue they go bad.  Carrots are not one of the veggies that I keep for some reason.

Reading his recipe, I thought it would be a good idea to make these.  Then I thought soup.  Looked up 101 cookbooks site and typed in carrots and found this recipe for carrot soup - I decided to make soup for the second time in my life (first one doesn't count because I fell asleep and burnt the soup).

I took stock of what I had in the fridge-
some chicken stock ( I will use the brovil and water as I didn't make any real chicken stock)
Long green peppers (not sure what kind)
challots
baby cherry tomatos
onion
chopped parsley (from the taboule that I made and pre chopped)
okra  (which I absolutly love)
carrots (of course)
mushrooms chopped small (in my case, i mushed them by accident)
some herbs from my pantry (dill, chilantro)
a large handfull and 1/2 of red lentils
2 slices of bacon
garlic
lemon juice
and olive oil

first saute the onions with olive oil, until translucent, add garlic, bacon (chopped)
chop up your carrots into small chunks, cut okra- add lemon juice,
throw in your 4 cups of broth, add carrots, okra, parsley, long green peppers mushrooms, spices, tomatos, challots and let boil for 10 minutes, then bring temp down to simmer
it's a free for all.  just go with it. add salt and pepper to taste.
I forgot the dill- oh well you could always add it later.

I'll post the photos once I clean the conter top and get the steps started.

I'm also not sure if I could freeze this soup to bring to dad.  He hasn't been feeling well so hopefully he'll like my carrot soup.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

it's proofing in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours... then make into little balls then i'll freeze it.  

-             -                 -                 -                 -                  -

ok so the dough didn't seem the way I pictured the dough to be like... I was able to figure it out  and rolled it into 2 pieces, I froze one of them already rolled out ready for use and the second I figured I'd try it tonight.

here's my first ever pizza dough recipe.  (curtesy Amy P--- AKA: my cooking encyclopedia guru!)

-2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
-1 1/3 cup warm water
combine the yeast and warm water with
-pinch of flour
-pinch of sugar
let proof for 5-10 minutes.

-3 1/2  cups flour ( I used whole wheat flour- you could use 2 1/2 cup wheat and 1 cup of white)
-1 tbsp sugar
-1 tbsp salt

combine in a large bowl

make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
add the yeast mixture, which should be puffy or foamy and bubbing

-2 tbsp olive oil.

gradually mix together a bit at a time.
knead 10 minutes by hand
let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm place covered with plastic. Keep it wraped until doubled in volume (up to 2 hrs)

Punch down
separate into 2 balls and let rest for 10 minutes.
meanwhile.....

preheat oven 425 degreesF
grease 2 baking sheets and sprinkle with corn meal.

On a floured surface roll out each ball to 12 inch disks. (let rest after 5 inchs then roll ore)

top and bake for 12 to 18 minutes.

The toppings that I chose for this pizza were

-sundried tomatos (they are marinated in olive oil)
-fresh cherry tomatos
-long skinny peppers (they are not spicey)
-pickled hot peppers

only thing missing were the OLIVES. :(   :(

This is the size of the dough before cut in half.

Rolled out - not entirely however, it is a nice size. 

I could smell the pizza cooking- it smells so good.

It is crisping really well however I'll have to thin out the dough somewhat next time.

I am really enjoying this slice.  The crust is crispy and soft inside.  I'm a happy camper.  

Pizza dough is easy to make and fun-- even when your hands are real sticky. :)

today's dinner...

I bought Bulgur wheat for the first time the other day- first  time around making it I made it wronge--  Yes I know, I didn't remember the conversation I had with a friend that it's 2 & 1/2 cups of boiling water to 1 cup of Bulgur.... hense 1:1 wasn't a good idea.  DIDN'T TASTE SO GOOD.

Second time around, I decided to make it as tabule... It turned out really well.

I'll post my lunch tomorrow.  

I also bought whole wheat floure to make pizza dough.  ha ah, we'll see how that goes.

Next order, Tofu something or other.

My goal this week, from tonight to next sunday would be to have zero meat...  MMM not sure I could do it.

a new discovery

there is this little fruit store that I go into all the time. They have a nice selection of dried beans and rices as well as okra. I can't seem to find okra at my local grocery store :( so, this little fruit store carries my cravings.
I came across some swiss chard - didn't know what it was until I asked the clerk behind the desk. The swiss chard had beautiful vibrant red stalks and large crinkley dark green leaves with dark red veins running through them.

I got home happy with my find and began my search. I knew I read a recipe in one of my cook books that I have - sad to say that I didn't have one recipe for swiss chard. Next order of business- the Internet. I found a recipe for this swiss chard and was really surprised at how easy the recipe is. Here is the swiss chard recipe that I found and made.

little things

I find that when little things get me down, I want to cook. The title of this blog has been my moto for a little while now and although I don't always have the time to post a message, I am constantly looking for new recipes or new ways to revamp an old one. Today, I had brunch with a few good friends and had a wonderful time however, I was in a weird mood. Don't know why? So, after coping a lift home, I tried to nap- didn't happen. All I kept thinking about was what I want to cook.

I recently bought three cook books and with in these three cookbooks there was bound to be something right? Nothing struck my fancy. I though I could mix and match- yup you guessed it, Portuguese cuisine with Turish cuisine, weird huh? I don't think so because these two types of cuisine are basically the fundamentals of my cravings and diet.

I've taken out a blade roast out of the freezer with some hot Portuguese sausage that I had left over from the chili I made last week. Portuguese sausage freezes well and can be used in all sorts of recipes.

My dinner for tonight:

Blade roast,
potatos,
tomatos (stewed)
garlic,
onions
eggplant
chorizo (portuguese sausage),
dried dill
bay leaf
a bit of olive oil

I'll put it in the oven on 350 degrees - in a oven roaster covered and roast it until the potatos are cooked though then remove the lid to brown them.

I'll give it a go and post a photo.