Red Velvet Cake Pops!

This is a slightly delayed post but is still a new recipe that I wanted to share that is an excellent idea for party favors or a simple dessert. Today I'm talking about cake pops! Specifically Red Velvet Cake Pops.

A couple weeks ago my room mates and I hosted an engagement party for our friends Doug and Sarah and we had a nice cookout for them a couple of our close friends. I asked as the avid amateur chef if there was anything I could make for the party and the bride-to-be Sarah requested a dessert but without any real preference. So I settled on cake pops! I'm not quite sure why I chose cake pops over any other dessert but I thought it would be a fun idea and they have a myriad of decorating options. This post today will not include a recipe but focus more on the technique and hopefully act as an inspiration for future baking ideas! 

Cake pops were incredibly trendy 2-3 years ago and I still remember walking into Starbucks and seeing them sold for 2-3 dollars per pop. Now adays they are not as popular but you can actually find kits that contain most of the accessories needed to produce your own with some cool decorating tips!

I make my cake and icing from scratch but this is completely doable with boxed cake mixes and canned icing if you wanted to cut down on prep time. All you need is cake, icing, and melting chocolate (those little discs you melt in the microwave).

Step 1: Bake your cake and allow to cool completely. Once cool use a spatula and turn the cake into crumbs. While the cake is cooling melt your chocolate according to the directions on the package adding a tablespoon of shortening to help thin the consistency a little bit.

Step 2: Mix in your frosting until you get a smooth malleable dough/paste.

Step 3: Continue mixing and it will eventually pull together.

Step 4: It should pull together and form into a solid ball that can be formed and shaped into little spheres.

Step 5: Shape your cake balls into quarter sized spheres. If you make them too big they will fall off the stick. 

Step 6: Take your lollipop sticks and dip it into your melted chocolate so that the cake balls will have something to adhere to on the inside of the cake ball. Be careful not to insert the stick too far (aim for about halfway through the cake ball) or else the cake ball will slide all the way down the stick.

Step 7: Dip the rest of the cake ball into the chocolate to make a thin even coat. Allow any excess to drip off back into your chocolate bowl.

Step 8: Allow the chocolate to harden but be careful to not allow the sides of the cake balls to touch anything or else you will track chocolate everywhere.

Step 9: Decorate as you see fit. I was cutting it close so I simply piped on small bow ties and buttons for tuxedo cake balls!

I know this blog post was a little less informative but was a new experiment for me. I simply wanted to give people a new idea and concept to try that isn't as hard as it may seem. Next week I should be returning to the recipe based instructional format. Thanks for reading!

Katsudon

For my blog I typically try to showcase foods that are unique and "fancy" but relatively easy to make, but always creating complex dishes can be tiring and  makes it hard to keep posting regularly. Today I thought I would show off the types of things I make when I'm in a hurry and just want to use things I have in the kitchen. Today that is Katsu-don. 

Katsu-don is a Japanese dish in which a fried pork or chicken cutlet is cooked with onions and dashi-stock and served over rice. Often this is presented in a nice box or tray and makes a pretty simple meal. I personally consider it Japanese comfort food and it's one of my favorite quick meals I can whip up in about 30 minutes. 

The first step in making katsu-don is making a fried chicken cutlet! Traditionally I think pork works the best for this dish but I only had chicken breast so I used chicken and it turned out just as tasty! Unfortunately I didn't document the cutlet preparation but I will describe it in detail.

Take 1 - 2 chicken breasts and pound them until flat to help speed up cooking process. Season with salt and pepper. Prepare dredging station with 3 separate containers. One containing all purpose flour, the second with 2 eggs lightly beaten, and the third with panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs that are available in most supermarkets). You can use other types of breadcrumbs but you won't get as crispy of a crust as you get with panko. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, then the egg, then the panko to form a nice crust. Make sure you shake off excess between each dredging and get ready to fry!

Heat up your favorite cast iron skillet or other frying pan over medium heat and pour in enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom with about a 1/4 inch'' of oil. You really don't need a lot of oil as we aren't really deep frying but pan frying. 

Once the oil is hot add the breaded cutlets and fry on each side about 4-5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. It should hopefully look something like this:  

Golden brown and delicious!

Now you basically have friend chicken! Now to make katsudon we just have to cook them in eggs and serve over rice! I started first by cutting each cutlet into pieces to create bite sized pieces.

Clean out your skillet and add about 1 cup of chicken stock (dashi stock would be even better) over medium heat.

Boring looking but the first step towards greatness!

Next you want to add about 1/2 cup of chopped onions. I left my onions in pretty big pieces because they will be simmered in stock and will get pretty soft so I like having some substance to them. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar to the stock mixture and stir to combine.

Here you could add other ingredients if desired like garlic, mirin, or more sugar if desired but I decided to keep it simple and quick tonight. Cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the onions soften and absorb that delicious flavored stock.

Once you have your "onion soup" cooked, nestle the cooked chicken cutlet into the skillet between the onions. Lightly beat 3 eggs and slowly pour it all over the skillet trying to evenly disperse it throughout the pan. 

Cover the egg/chicken mix and again cover and simmer for 1-3 minutes or until egg is cooked. The crust on the chicken may soften a little bit and will absorb all the delicious flavors of the onions, stock, and soy sauce. 

Once you have your finished product, it should be simple to cut and simply lay over a bowl of rice. I had some leftover sushi rice from a another recent cooking party. While not the most fancy or pretty dishes this is by far one of the easiest and simple things I like to cook and do it at a moments notice. I hope you enjoy!

Chicken Katsu-don

Ingredients

For chicken cutlets:

- 1 or 2 chicken breasts

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 2 cups Japanese bread crumbs (Panko)

- salt and pepper

- oil for frying

1. Lightly pound each chicken breast flat to help speed up cooking

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper

3. Dredge in flour, then egg, then in panko breadcrumbs making sure to shake off excess between dredgings

4. Heat 4-5 tablespoons of oil over medium heat until a droplet of water sizzles in oil

5. Pan fry each cutlet for 4-5 minutes on each side or until chicken is cooked through

6. Dry each piece of chicken on paper towels to remove excess oil

7. Cut chicken into bite sized strips to allow easier consumption later

For katsu-don:

- 1 cup chicken stock (dashi stock is even better)

- 3 eggs

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon sugar

- 1/2 cup onion, chopped

- 2 cups of cooked rice to serve on top of (I used sushi rice)

1. Heat 1 cup of chicken stock over medium heat

2. Add chopped onions, sugar, and soy sauce to stock and stir to combine

3. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until onions are softened and absorb stock

4. Nestle chicken cutlets in-between onions

5. Lightly beat 3 eggs and pour over dish making sure to evenly disperse egg

6. Cover and simmer for about 3 minutes or until egg is cooked and chicken changes color from absorbing stock

7. Fill a serving bowl with rice to form a nice bed to top with chicken

8. Carefully move chicken from pan and top bed of rice with chicken

9. Serve immediately and enjoy!

New posts coming soon!

To all my new viewers and recent acquaintances I just wanted to apologize for the lack of updates recently. I started this food blog as a challenge to myself and I knew at some point (almost immediately) I would not stick to my predetermined schedule. The good news is that I am officially done with school and on May 11th I received my PharmD from the University of Chapel Hill and can proudly call myself a pharmacist. For those who read my food blog this means that I will now have more time to figure out my schedule and can start updating regularly! 

Until then I just wanted to post a couple pictures of food I have recently made and am working towards posting about. Hopefully this will excite people and give them an idea of things to come. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Oatmeal Cream Pies! Made at Home!

I recently posted a picture of my most recent baking adventure on facebook and the response was overwhelming positive with many people asking me how I did it. Honestly, it couldn't be easier!

Last weekend I took a much needed break to my friends mountain house out in Sparta, NC. This is a rare treat for me that basically entails getting away from everyday life and just spending some relaxing time in a remote location with friends. I spend most of my time hiking, eating food, and laying around... pretty much everything I want from a real vacation. One of the best parts of these little excursions is that I take the opportunity to eat whatever I want and really just relax and enjoy myself. This means cooking a special treat and getting to share it with others. This time up the mountain we had a group of ~ 20 people heading up there and I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and provide food for 20 people. 

Let me tell you that trying to cook for 20 people is incredibly difficult. 

As soon as I agreed to cook a single meal for all my friends I realized that I had to consider what to cook that 20 people would like, how to cook enough food to feed everyone, how am I going to transport so much food, what do I do about vegetarians, and how am I going to pay to feed 20 people? 

The answer to this dilemma? Spaghetti.

Everyone loves spaghetti, it's cheap, it's portable, and it's easy to make. Additionally, I realized that I could prep the noodles ahead of time mix it with sauce and cover it with cheese and create a baked spaghetti dish that could finish baking when I arrive at the house! Genius!

The night before I went up I went ahead and made 20 pounds of spaghetti and placed them in disposable chafing so that I could easily transport them and off I went! I wish I had taken a picture of this because 20 pounds of spaghetti is truly a sight to behold and while the dishes themselves weren't heavy it was still an enormous amount of food!

Now how does spaghetti equal oatmeal cream pies? Well no baked spaghetti dinner is complete without some dessert to complement that tomato-ey goodness! When deciding on a dessert I wanted something portable, easy to serve and eat, and was fun! That's when it hit me, why don't I make my own oatmeal cream pies? 

Everyone loves spaghetti and everyone loves individually wrapped caloric bombs they remembered from their bag lunches. In my mind this was the perfect dessert!

I unfortunately didn't take many pictures of the cooking process but I assure you it was not difficult and I will include the recipe. I hope you give this a shot and enjoy! I know my friends loved them and they were all gone on the first night.

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

For Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

For Cream Filling:

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Directions: This recipe makes about 48 cookies or 24 pies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Line baking sheets with parchment paper

In a bowl use a mixer and cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, honey, and vanilla and mix until incorporated.

In another mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add your dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend on low  until just incorporated. Stir in oats until evenly distributed. Chill dough in refrigerator to help firm up and make scoopable.

Remove dough from refrigerator and drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet. Try to make each ball of dough as uniform as possible so that each cookie is roughly the same size and fits together perfectly. Be sure to put space in between each cookie as they will spread out during the baking process 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just browned. Let stand on baking sheet until set and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

While the cookies are cooling prepare your cream filling! You could easily use store bought marshmallow cream straight out of a jar or even thin it out with some butter and sugar to create a nice fluffy cream but I personally prefer making an icing and controlling what goes into my cookies.

Beat butter with your mixer for about 1 minute until creamy. Carefully add the powdered sugar and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Pour in heavy cream and vanilla extract and mix on 3-4 minutes or until fluffy. This is how I would normally make an icing but the addition of heavy adds a nice creaminess to the icing that makes it perfect for sandwich cookies. Be sure to taste this mix and add salt if mixture is too sweet. If filling is way too thick, add a couple more teaspoons of heavy cream.

Once your cookies are cool, spread 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of cream filling on a cookie and match it up with another cookie of roughly the same size. Lightly squeeze the two cookies together and enjoy! 

A Late St. Patricks Day Treat! Shepherds Pie!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I've let a whole month slip by without any posts! I have been very busy with work and I actually got a new job to show for all my efforts! With my financial future secured and one less stressor out of the way I can now focus on getting my food blog back on a regular schedule. My goal is to update once a week and ideally on Saturdays but we'll see what works best for me. For today I bring you a pretty simple dish that most people don't ever think to make... Shepherd's Pie. 

I know it's not technically Irish and what people think of as shepherd's pie can vary from place to place, but I envision shepherd's pie as a casserole consisting of ground beef, carrots, peas, and onions topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked until nice and toasty. Perfect filling food on that can often be made with things you probably already have! I personally already had some frozen peas, carrots and onions (that I use for salads), potatoes (which I always keep on hand for mashed potatoes and french fries) as well as some ground beef. I didn't even have to go to the grocery store for this meal. So without further ado, here is my recipe for shepherd's pie.

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

Mashed Potato Topping

• 5-6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into thirds
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 2-3 tbsp butter
• Salt + Pepper
• Chives, chopped

"Pie Filling"

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs of lean ground beef
• 1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• Salt + Pepper
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 1/4 cup beef broth

Shepherd's Pie

Step 1: Acquire Potatoes

Step 2: Peel Potatoes

Step 3: Chop potatoes into smaller pieces that are roughly the same size so that they cook evenly.

 

Step 4: Cover potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5-8 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and mashable. 

Step 5: Drain!

Step 6: Add milk and butter and mash with a fork or potato masher. Can add additional milk or butter to suit preferences. I prefer creamy potatoes but still a little chunky.

Step 7: Saute carrots and onions in olive oil until onions start to turn translucent.

Step 8: Set veg aside and brown ground beef.

Step 9: Once ground beef is cooked through reincorporate vegetables and add Worcestershire sauce, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. I also added some soy sauce for some additional depth of flavor.

Step 10: Add peas to meat mixture and stir to combine.

Step 11: Set meat filling aside in casserole dish. Don't forget to preheat that oven to 400 degrees!

Step 12: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in pan.

Step 13: Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir to incorporate making a roux. Work quickly so that the flour does not burn. This mixture may not look appetizing but it is essentially a thickening agent that will help create a nice sauce.

Step 14: Stir in beef broth and allow to thicken slightly almost to a gravy consistency.

Step 15: Pour sauce over meat mixture and mix well.

Step 16: Top meat mixture with mashed potatoes. Note that I also mixed some diced chives into my mashed potatoes for some additional flavor!

Step 17: Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until top is lightly browned.

Step 18: Serve and enjoy! This is a nice hearty meal made with simple ingredients in a unique way. Great to share and easy on the budget! I hope you enjoy.

All the directions in one place:

1. Acquire Potatoes

2. Peel Potatoes

3. Chop potatoes into smaller pieces that are roughly the same size so that they cook evenly.

4. Cover potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5-8 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and mashable. 

5. Drain!

6. Add milk and butter and mash with a fork or potato masher. Can add additional milk or butter to suit preferences. I prefer creamy potatoes but still a little chunky.

7. Saute carrots and onions in olive oil until onions start to turn translucent.

8. Set veg aside and brown ground beef.

9. Once ground beef is cooked through reincorporate vegetables and add Worcestershire sauce, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. I also added some soy sauce for some additional depth of flavor.

10. Add peas to meat mixture and stir to combine.

11. Set meat filling aside in casserole dish. Don't forget to preheat that oven to 400 degrees!

12. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in pan.

13. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir to incorporate making a roux. Work quickly so that the flour does not burn. This mixture may not look appetizing but it is essentially a thickening agent that will help create a nice sauce.

14. Stir in beef broth and allow to thicken slightly almost to a gravy consistency.

15. Pour sauce over meat mixture and mix well.

16. Top meat mixture with mashed potatoes. Note that I also mixed some diced chives into my mashed potatoes for some additional flavor!

17. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until top is lightly browned.

18. Serve and enjoy! This is a nice hearty meal made with simple ingredients in a unique way. Great to share and easy on the budget! I hope you enjoy.

Homemade Crunchwraps!

Last weekend a friend and I were going to eat taco bell after a game of ultimate frisbee. Now this may sound like a strange idea seeing as we were negating exercise with taco bell, but in Chapel Hill there is a shortage of fast food and sometimes you just get a craving for the bell. 

I ordered a random assortment of tacos and burritos and was prepared to gorge myself. When I asked my friend what she wanted me to pick her up, she requested a crunch wrap. Just one crunch wrap! It contained all of the flavors and components of a meal in one portable package!

Then it hit me! I can make my own crunch wraps! (Sure I can make my own tacos too but that's too easy) So I cobbled together the ingredients and made my own! I raided my pantry and set to work.

Start by browning some ground beef and seasoning with your favorite taco seasoning. (I really need to learn how to make my own but for now the mixes will have to do) 

    

Lay out all your ingredients and form a building station and get ready to stack! The ingredients I used were tortillas, refried beans, ground beef, melted cheese (for that authentic taco bell experience), tostada shells (flat crunchy tacos), Shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Step 1. Assemble your ingredients

Step 2. Apply meat!

Step 3. Top with melted cheese and beans.

Step 4. Separate warm and hot foods with a tostada. Then add shredded lettuce.

Step 5. Next is the fresh pico!

Step 6. Last is  the cheese because you can never have too much cheese.

Step 7. Fold into a hexagonal shape.

Above is the first one I made and was a little too full to get a good seal. Below you can see another one I made and filled a little less so that it would seal properly. I recommend getting large burrito sized tortillas if attempting this so that you can get a good seal so you can pick it up with your hands without the contents spilling everywhere.

Heat on both sides and give a press. I used another pot to press down my crunchwraps. Top with additional salsa or pico de gallo or simply pick up and devour!

Crunch Wrap Cross section

Crunch Wraps!

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 package Taco seasoning
2 cups shredded cheese (Mexican blend or cheddar works here)
1 package tostada shells
1 package burrito sized tortillas
1 container pico de gallo (or fresh salsa)
1 jar nacho cheese (optional, I just wanted that extra melted goodness associated with taco bell)
1 package shredded lettuce 
1 can refried beans (or other bean of your choice)


Directions
1. Brown ground beef over medium heat until cooked through. Drain excess fat.
2. Season with taco seasoning according to package instructions.
3. Place tortilla on plate.
4. Top with ground beef (amounts of each layer should be kept thin so that crunch wrap is fold able)
5. Top beef with beans and melted cheese if using.
6. Lay tostada shell on top of warm ingredients to separate hot and cold ingredients.
7. Top tosada with a layer of shredded lettuce.
8. Add next layer of fresh salsa or pico de gallo.
9. Sprinkle cheese on top of salsa.
10. Fold sides of tortilla to the middle and form a hexagonal shape. Try to make the sides meet in the middle as best as possible.
11. Take assembled tostada and lay seam side down in a saute pan over medium heat. Press down with spatula or another pan or pot to brown tortilla.
12. Once tortilla is browned, flip over and repeat browning process.
13. Serve with additional salsa or simply devour with hands!

This recipe is not really complex and more of a shopping list than a recipe, but I think it's a great idea I hadn't thought of until recently. Several of my friends informed me that this idea is all over pinterest and I think it is an excellent idea for a fun weeknight meal. It is also easily customized and can be made with a variety of other meats or beans to accommodate vegetarian diners. Now only if I could make my own doritos taco shells...