“Fried Chicken just tend to make you feel better about life”

True words spoken from one of my new favorite movies, The Help.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.

I moved this summer, and live in a full house with another IV Staff and 4 IV interns! Each day is an adventure in our house, but for the most part I am loving it!

Wednesdays are my night to cook, and since I only really have to cook one meal a week, I end up being pretty creative.

This week I made FRIED CHICKEN, and now I have a recipe I really enjoy and can refer to rather than spending so much money at Popeyes!

I also host a small group at my house every other Thursday, and we spend 2 hours making meals from the website, “Cooking with the Bible”. This Wednesday, I tested out the recipe for Russet Mashed Potato Casserole, made with yellow fleshed potatoes, as I couldn’t find Russet Potatoes. I also don’t know what Sumac is, so I used a substitute of lemon zest and salt. I also tried to vegan-ize this meal, and made Nayonnaise. Though I didn’t use silken tofu, and my blender is broken, but it turned out ok for the most part.

But the best part was making CAKE POPS! I modified a recipe from the Happy Baker for Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops. Which turned out AMAZING! I love Cake Pops.

 

Some Weekly Highlights

So, I haven’t been as good at recording my experiments, but I HAVE been experimenting.

Here are some highlights:

Cake Pops

Inspired by Starbucks, I found out how to make this easy treat. The gist is that you make the cake as usual, and then crumble it and mix it with frosting, then form it into balls. Place sticks in the cake balls and put in fridge to chill. Coat with melted chocolate and return to fridge for chocolate to harden, and serve. The recipes I’ve found for this process have been using box cake and canned frosting; but I imagine you could do this easily with cake and frosting from scratch. I often get sent home with boxed cake mix and have found this a helpful way to use up the packages so I can free up pantry space. Also canned frosting is often cheaper than buying the icing sugar needed to make the frosting. The cake pops photographed are Cherry Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting covered in a dark and milk chocolate topping. I also experimented using a Butter Pecan Cake with Vanilla Frosting covered with Melted Butterscotch and SemiSweet Chocolate Chips.

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Perogy Stir Fry

I found Cheemo Perogies on sale! On the box was a recipe for Perogy Stir Fry. I was intrigued, and a bit concerned about how that would taste, but decided to try it. I made the stir fry with peppers, snap peas, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots and perogies. I cooked all the ingredients individually, then combined them with a combination of soy sauce and sweet chili sauce and fried them for roughly 5 minutes. It was a little odd to navigate, but the meal turned out great! Unfortunately, the perogies don’t keep well, so the leftovers were a little soggy, but still delicious.

Perogy Stir Fry

Entree Salads

If you ask me, I am not a Salad person. I usually hate having Salad as a meal, but I was inspired by Wendy’s fancy new salad options, and rather than spending $10 for one meal at Wendy’s, I got the ingredients and made a salad that lasted for a few days.

I used a bag salad mix as a base, then added red and green peppers, pecans, gala apples and honey infused goat cheese. I topped the salad with some breaded chicken strips. I ate the salad as is, without any dressing, as the components had enough rich flavours.

I made another entree salad with another bag salad base. I added orange peppers, almonds, and dried cranberries. I topped it with hand-breaded chicken (I learned how to bread chicken, which is SUPER easy!) and used Kraft’s new Creamy Masala Dressing.

Both Salads were delicious and so filling!

My return to chocolate

This year, I gave up chocolate for lent. The decision for this came from realizing I have unhealthy consumption patterns with chocolate, especially as I tended to use it for comfort after a bad day or for late night snacks after work (we’re talking 1 am chocolate binges while streaming TV and then going to bed with all that chocolate just sitting in my system).

So, while it was good for me to let go of the places where I’d made chocolate an idol; there was a second pattern to my chocolate consumption; as most of my friends, co-workers and housemates are all big fans of chocolate. My fast meant comprising spending time with them; and so there were a few instances when I broke lent for the sake of celebrating with people:

- I made and ate Mocha cupcakes for my friend Vanessa to celebrate her finishing her fashion collection.

- I celebrated being close to the end of the semester while using my coffee passport at Bisogno to order Nutella Lattes with Vanessa

- I celebrated Vanessa’s birthday by having a slice of her chocolate ice cream cake

- I celebrated my friend Dave’s birthday by making a chocolate sundae

- I enjoyed chocolate White Russians with a childhood best friend with whom I’d finally been able to reconnect

For my return to chocolate, I made Easter Egg Brownies, a recipe I found in Vanessa’s roommate Amber’s Splenda Cookbook. We modified the recipe to include Nutella, to celebrate the end of Vanessa’s fast of Nutella.

The modified recipe looked like this:

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/3 cup minus 1 tsp Splenda
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Topping:
3 oz milk chocolate

Nutella

36 chocolate minieggs

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin pan with 12 liners
2. Melt dark chocolate and butter in double boiler or in microwave.
3. Crack eggs and gradually beat sweetener until combined, then beat in melted chocolate mixture. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder into bowl. Add milk chocolate chips and stir ingredients together until just combined.
4. Divide mixture into cups and bake for about 8 minutes or until just firm.

5. To decorate the brownies, shave the milk chocolate into small curls using potato peeler.
6. Spread a thin layer of Nutella over brownies. Top with chocolate curls and minieggs.

Easter Egg Brownies

These were delicious and decadent! I could only manage one at a time; my body couldn’t handle all that chocolate!

Archi’s NEW Yearly Challenge

So, the truth of the matter is that last year’s challenge, was a bit too ambitious for me. I gave up on blogging pretty early in, and gave up on the challenge not soon after.

However, the week’s I stayed strong with the challenge, gave me new skills and techniques and definitely made me a better cook/baker. I learned to fully appreciate meals when out, especially ones that were pretty complicated to remake; but for the most part, i’ve come to realize I prefer making great meals myself as opposed to going out.

In everything I’ve made, or recreated for myself for the sake of the challenge, only one meal stands out as NOT better than restaurant quality, that being Channa Masala; which I also realized I don’t like in large quantities. Apart from that everything else, I’ve made has been a success!

So, I have been thinking what is a reasonable challenge for me this year (and yes I realize it’s nearly half over) and have finally decided on something. So, one thing I take away from this challenge, is that I enjoy challenges; and especially enjoy ambitious cooking/baking challenges. Something about the “Go big or don’t bother” aspect; which made successes feel much more gratifying and failures being something to learn from. On average this year, I’ve been making at least 1-3 ambitious meals per week; for work, personal and social purposes; so my challenge this year will be to continue with my ambitious meal making and to blog about them at least once every 2 weeks.

That being said, look to the next post for my most recent undertakings.

Cupcakes galore

So, its been a while since I’ve updated my yearly challenge. But, I am still going strong (kind of), and experimenting with different creations. Most recently, I have been inspired by a novel about making cupcakes.

Amazon recommended the book to me, shortly after I had discovered Baking Cakes in Kigali, called The Icing on The Cupcake. Now, this book was an infinitely lighter read than Baking Cakes in Kigali, but still very entertaining. It’s your basic chick-lit book, about a spoiled heroine starting over and realizing the folly of her ways, in the meantime using baking as therapy. The last bit is what drew me in, the added bonus was that each chapter of this book ended with a recipe for cupcakes, and after trying the first one, that I was able to view with amazon reader, it became clear to me that I needed to purchase this book. Shortly after purchasing this book and trying some of its creations, I found out that the website, and food blog of the author was up and running, where she had posted most of the recipes found in her book. However, I am still pleased with my purchase, and have started lending the book out to my fellow baking comrades.

Meanwhile, after an unplanned situation with my other job (my not day job), I found myself with the house to myself, with many melancholy moments, requiring what else, but some therapeutic baking. I was actually considering treating myself by going to one of the few good cupcake cafes in Toronto (most located on the east end of the city, which is at least a 1.5 hour commute for me), but then decided I’d try my hand at making one of the more unique options myself. The result: Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream frosting. These turned out AMAZING! I used a decaf Earl Grey, actually I just cut open a Tetley bag (which I’ve never done before). I halved both the cupcake recipe and the icing. The icing turned out really well, I had my doubts but in the end it was smooth and creamy, and with just enough icing sugar to make it slightly harden without making it rock hard like royal icing. I definitely recommend trying this recipe, the cupcakes themselves are really light, and the lemon icing is a great compliment (though the lemon zest and juice combo makes for a pretty flavourful icing, so it might overpower the subtlety of the cupcakes.

There is so much more that I could say about cupcakes but then I’d never finish this blog post, and its been sitting in my draft folder for almost a year, so I’m just going to save my further thoughts and post this as is.

What I do when my boss screws me over:

Today at my day job, I came to the lovely discovery that my boss has decided to outsource my job, while I still work for the company.

What do I do? Try and convince myself this isn’t the case? Yup. Vent to a co-worker? Yup. Some therapeutic post-work baking? No, surprisingly.

What do I do when my boss screws me over: I FRY.

Why? Coming from a culture where most meals, especially snacks and sweets are fried, there is a part of me that needs comfort food to be FRIED.

So, what did I fry? A constant comfort, and an experiment.

The comfort: Cream Cheese Wontons

Cream Cheese Wontons

The experiment: Cayenne-Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa

The result:

Well, as it turns out, I forgot the Avocado for the Salsa (a pretty crucial ingredient) so all I was really able to do was prepare the chicken. (This meal is actually meant for tomorrow’s dinner.) But it was definitely therapeutic frying the chicken, though I did get splashed by the oil a few times, and got some wicked grease burns.

The wontons, were much tamer, though it did take a while for the oil to heat up. But they turned out nice and crispy. I ate a few with what was left of the sweet and sour sauce in the fridge. I offered some to my housemate to have with the leftover peanut dipping sauce I made last week with a Chicken Satay.

After all that frying, do I feel better? No. I feel pretty greasy and exhausted, and still feel crappy about work. Perhaps I should stick with therapeutic baking. I’ll probably feel more accomplished and less like I just ate a hot pocket (did I eat it, or just rub it on my face?)

Savoury Cupcakes

I have a half composed greatest hit recipes post underway, but while I have a moment and also to test out what can be done on the wordpress phone app, I share this post with you.

Savoury Cupcakes

These are two types of savoury cupcakes, both found from a beautiful cupcake blog. There’s a cheddar cheese and spring onion cupcake with a cream cheese and goat cheese frosting, and a cornmeal cupcake with the same frosting and topped with bacon bits and chives.

I made these as a main course, and served them alongside a simple salad of lettuce, strawberries, candied walnuts, feta cheese and topped with a raspberry vinaigrette (as made by my new housemate). It was a delicious “experimental” meal of savoury cupcakes and sweet salad.

There was plenty left over, and so the mini versions of these cupcakes (I made both mini and full-size cupcakes) were taken as a movie theatre snack.

Yes, you read that right, not only did I smuggle these cupcakes into the theatre, I also smuggled a butter knife and iced and decorated them while waiting for the movie to start! It was quite the sight to see! My dear friend Laura laughed the whole time I put this treat together, and graciously held the “plate” as I placed the iced cupcakes on it.

It was a great “healthy” snack and set a precedence in our movie theatre snacks!

Would I make them again? Definitely!

Day Ten through Day Sixteen

On Day Ten, Elsie and I made the “Carrot and Lentil Soup” from her cookbook.

Carrot and Lentil Soup

It was slightly chaotic, and the onions are a very dark brown instead of translucent. But the soup eventually came together, burned onions and all. Though, it did taste great! The above photo was taken by Elsie. The recipe called for a garnish of coriander and feta, we forgot about the feta and Elsie isn’t a huge fan of coriander, so we decided to add more green onion.

Between the last three meals made, I was good for meals for the week.

Though I spent the rest of the week doing some baking for my Quarter Century Cupcake Party.

Continuing the challenge, on my birthday was an interesting challenge; limiting my potential for pre-made cakes and sweets, so if I wanted a birthday treat, I’d have to make it myself. The birthday creation I made was “Ooey Gooey Coca Cola Brownies”, a recipe that I got from a donor during a cookie baking party. This was the first time I had made this recipe on my own. The prep took a little longer than expected, and I subsequently missed all of the much anticipated return of Criminal Minds. Once the brownies were baked, I had unexpected challenges making the topping. I burned the chocolate twice and cracked a bowl in the process. I eventually used up all of the required milk chocolate chips and decided to use semisweet chocolate chips. Third time was the charm, and I made the topping. After I tried again with the not so burned milk chocolate and managed to make it work. The result – even more chocolatey brownies.

I brought some of these brownies to work the next day, they went quickly; within a hour, half the brownies I put out were gone.

On Day Fifteen, I made  Savoury Cupcakes. I roasted red peppers for the first time. I forgot to pat-dry the peppers, so the cupcakes were pretty moist. Also, I put 2 tablespoons of baking powder in the mix, and the cupcakes barely rose at all. But they were mighty tasty.

I also made Martha Stewart’s Chai cupcakes. Even though I used considerably less baking powder, only 1.5 teaspoons, these things rose like crazy! I made 24 mini cupcakes.

On Day Sixteen, the day of the cupcake party, I made the icing for the Savoury Cupcakes, which consisted of cream cheese, goat cheese and chives. I also made the condensed milk and sugar frosting for the chai cupcakes.

I also decided to be super ambitious and make Martha’s Lemon curd filled cupcakes. The recipe had a HUGE yield, I made 24 mini cupcakes and 24 regular-sized cupcakes! The curd did not behave as it was supposed to, mainly because I didn’t follow all of Martha’s instructions as she made them particularly complicated. In the end, they tasted ok, though weren’t what I had planned.

I also in my fear people wouldn’t bring enough chocolate cupcakes made some of Martha’s Mocha cupcakes. These were the last things I made before the party, and weren’t super exciting, but served as a nice base for people to experiment with icings and toppings.

The party was a great success! I was excited and impressed by all the baking talents and creative innovations of my guests! I was eating cupcakes for roughly 2 weeks afterwards! Surprisingly so, I still love cupcakes and didn’t get “cupcaked” out.

Day Three through Day Nine

So, they say with life changing challenges, the temptations are strongest in the first week.

I realized this week, the importance of having supportive people around me during this challenge. I am so happy and blessed to have the support of both of my roommates. I also have been blessed with AMAZING friends who have offered their support, cookbooks, shopping tips, and eagerness to have cooking dates.

This week, I went with a friend to a Bulk Barn for the first time in a long time. I was shocked at how many pre-made meals mixes existed: breads, soups, cakes, etc. that only required water. They came complete with recipe and everything. I’d expect such things in commuter big box supermarkets in downtown Toronto, but I was not expecting this is Scarborough. Though I just bought snacks for a movie, the temptations for these mixes was strong, not for their time-saving capabilities, but I was morbidly fascinated that food can be processed so much that you just add water to complete your meal.

This week, I ate many of the leftovers from the past few days, but on Day Five, I made Chicken Curry.

Chicken Curry

I turned out well. However, I couldn’t find any cream of chicken soup, so I substituted cream of mushroom with onion soup. It wasn’t too bad. The last time I made this dish I didn’t use actual chicken, just the soup, but the seasoned chicken made for a delightful addition to this meal.

The rest of the week, I ate leftovers from my meal, and through poor planning, enjoyed a few meals out with friends.

On Day Eight, I decided to try a recipe from a book my roommate got for Christmas, Good Food for All: The Stop’s First Cookbook. I chose to buy the ingredients for the “Carrot and Lentil Soup” and the “Zucchini Bake”. I planned on making the soup with my roommate Elsie on Monday, but decided to take on the challenge of the Zucchini Bake.

Zucchini Bake

I discovered that grating zucchini is one of the most gratifying things in the world. The pain and toil that comes from grating other items is virtually non-existent. All told the prep for this meal was super quick, roughly 10 minutes. Though not relevant for me at this junction, but this is a super easy meal to make with kids in the mix. Lots of simple tasks for them to help with, quick prep, and lots of time for other things while its baking in the oven. It bakes for roughly 50 minutes.

These two meals were enough to tide me over and offer enough variety for a few days.

Day [gallery] One/Two

The first day of the challenge was also the first day after an intense 5-day conference for work; suffice it to say, I was not up to the challenge of going out, even for groceries.

Thus, the first meal of the challenge was made with what could be scrounged up between myself and my roommate. We had most of what was needed for “Toronto Pad Thai” (image 1).

We made modifications, we tried to include some chicken, but it was a wee bit past its prime, so after attempting to boil it, we decided against using it. We also had no bean sprouts, so we did without. We couldn’t find any peanuts so we substituted cashews. We doubled the recipe so it would last us for a few days, though it may just last us for the weekend.

For day two, I decided to brave the weather. I got bundled up and bought was needed to make “Sweet Potato Hummus” (image 2). It was quite the ordeal, and I saw so many “time-saving” pre-made meals for purchase, but I stuck to my shopping list, and got what I needed and got out quickly. The hummus is slightly chunkier than desired. “The Bullet” failed me, and did not blend the hummus well, likely because it was a fairly solid mixture that didn’t have too much liquid to help in the blending. In the end, I had to go at it with a potato masher, thus the chunkier consistency. It tastes ok though, there’s a nice blend in flavours.

I also made “Buttery Cheesy-Dill Biscuits” (image 3). They were super easy to make, much like their plain counterpart. Turned out well, though slightly mushy in the middle, but that might have been an effect of the cheese. I ate the biscuits with the sweet potato hummus and with some left over “Pear and Squash Soup”. Thoroughly satisfied. These items should tide me over for a few days, but I foresee another cooking fest in the very near future.