I used to always buy those packets of seasoning that you just mix into a tub of sour cream. In fact, I love that stuff! French Onion was my favorite flavor. And since I can’t seem to find the same thing here, I thought I’d make my own!
It takes a little more effort than just cutting open a packet and mixing but it’s well worth the extra 15 minutes of work. Please note, time estimated does not include chopping of vegetables… cause that takes time! This dip is great with cut vegetables but my favorite is with Ruffles chips (or equivalent), YUM! Ooo this would go really well stuffed in baby peppers too.
I made a cheesecake!!! A very patriotic red, white & blue cheesecake to be exact. Okay so it’s more like yellowish instead of white but you get the idea. Now for a disclaimer: I generally don’t like cheesecake. I usually only eat the crust and the little bit of cheesecake that touches the crust. So that said, I actually liked this cheesecake! Biased? Well of course because I made sure the crust was nice and thick and there was enough berry topping to balance the cheesecake-ness.
This cheesecake was made with a graham cracker crust, the most important part! Note, for the Aussies that read this, you cannot find graham crackers here! Although I think a good alternative would be crushed up Anzac cookies! Definitely going to try that soon. I actually had my mom ship us some graham crackers so I can make this. Well worth the extra shipping and handling. I adapted this recipe from Martha’s Blueberry Topped Cheesecake. Now this cheesecake is note quite as cheesy as a traditional New York style cheesecake and it’s also not as tough. It’s got a bit more lemon to it as well. Hmmm might be why I liked it? Hope you like it too!
Happy Fourth of July!!! I can’t think of a better dessert than apple pie to celebrate independence day. (Actually that might be debatable, I will post the red white and blue cheesecake I made as the other dessert option in a bit.) But really though, there’s nothing that speaks more American than the traditional apple pie, it’s right along there with baseball, red white and blue, bbqs, stars and stripes, and the pledge of allegiance.
To make sure I had enough, I bought an extra large pie dish just in case. I made mine a day before serving so the juices had time to settle but if you want to serve the same day, I suggest letting it cool for a few hours. The juices won’t be piping hot but it’ll still be warm on the inside. And you must serve with ice cream, it’s the only way.
I’ve been craving some blueberry muffins lately but I’ve been sick so I haven’t had the chance to cook or bake much the past week. Now that I’m about 99.9% better, I had to make some blueberry muffins right away! These muffins are very very very berry. I figured blueberries are jam packed with vitamins they’ve gotta be good for me. You could cut down the amount of blueberries if you want more cake.
Depending on how you like your muffins, you can add about another minute to the baking if you like it a bit more brown. I like to take it out a little before then so the insides is still incredibly moist. Test it out, see what you like! Enjoy!
Mmmmm, chocolate chips with chocolate?! OH YEAH! I was thinking about making it a triple chocolate cookie by adding white chocolate chunks as well but the store was out! Double chocolate it is!
Vini’s coworker’s birthday is this weekend so I insisted on making some cookies for him to bring to work. I was told he likes chocolate, so here’s double the chocolate for ya! I hope they like it!
I played around with my chocolate chip recipe and came up with this. You might want to do a test on your first batch to see how you like them to come out. I did 11 minutes for the slightly chewier one and then 12 minutes was perfect for the completely cooked through ones. Test it out, have fun!
I always thought red velvet cake was overrated. Well up until I had Sprinkle’s red velvet cupcakes several years ago. I basically fell in love with the idea of red cake. I mean it’s just food coloring but it makes this chocolate-vanilla cake absolutely magical. And then there’s the cream cheese frosting… I generally only like cream cheese on a bagel but for some reason the red cake makes it so irresistible. YUM!!
So instead of cupcakes, I figured it was about time I tried a layered cake. Not too shabby! I had to cut down the top of one of them so that it fit nicely on top of each other but all in all, a success! It’s not exactly wedding cake perfect… definitely far from that… but it held together and tasted great. I even cheated and skipped the crumbing layer during the frosting!
Okay so “amazing” may be a little biased but it sure is OOEY GOOEY delicious! I have to be completely honest, this dish isn’t exactly good for you. In fact, it might cause a mild heart attack. WARNING: all of you on diets, stay away from this post! I even added more spinach, used low fat cheeses, used low fat sour cream and mayo but at the end of the day, you really can’t call this healthy food. Even if you eat it with just vegetables !
Now for all of you who are willing to be a little dangerous, this dip will knock your socks off and have you coming back for more. I’ve altered the ratio of ingredients to attempt to make it a little healthier less bad for you. But feel free to play around with it and see if you come up with something better. I don’t have pepper jack cheese which is what I would normally use instead of mozzarella so mine was a little lacking in that pepper jack punch. I would definitely advise using pepper jack if you have some! Mozzarella is my favorite alternative because it’s stringy not so much cause it’s similar in taste at all. You can add more cheddar if you want to skip the pepper jack or mozzarella too.
New England style clam chowder… I mean CHOWDA! Vini loooooooves clam chowder. We spent $8 on an imported can of Progresso Clam Chowder once… he was ecstatic, apparently well worth the $8. We have yet to see another can of Progresso at the fancy imported foods place so I figured it was time I tried to make this fabulous old favorite soup. Especially since it’s officially Winter now! Turns out, mine was better than Progresso, so I’m told.
This is the New England style clam chowder, which is the white kind with clams, bacon or salted pork and potatoes. Manhattan style has tomatoes in it so it’s red and has no cream or milk. Generally the Manhattan style is more of a brothy soup too. I’ve added carrots and celery to the traditional New England chowda because I like to sneak in veggies wherever I can . It’s a little less creamy than some versions I’ve seen at restaurants but again, no complaints from the taste tester so I think taste wise it was a success!
Does that sound right? Sandwich Lemon Cookies with Jam? Jam with Lemon Cookies? Well either way, it’s pretty darn good! The best part is that you can eat the cookies as is, or make them into jam sammiches with your favorite jam. I tried these with every type of jam I could find in the house. I think my favorite is the Beerenberg’s Satsuma Plum jam. The mixed berries one works well also, it balances out the lemon really well. I also used some very sticky and unique tasting Burnt Fig Jam… that one was interesting but good. Vote goes to the plum jam with a close second to the apricot! Try it out and see which ones you like!
Another film about cooking? This one is a documentary about high school kids in Philly trying to get a scholarship to college… culinary college that is. And a teacher that’s incredibly intimidating (see trailer below!) but somehow through her unconventional teaching methods, inspires these kids to go for their goal. It’s out in the US in some places, but I have no idea how long it will take for it to come out here in Sydney!
I go to Le Monde almost 3 or 4 times a week. I make the extra effort to walk there for my morning coffee. They recently switched to a different soy milk which makes my morning soy cap extra creamy. Today I had a the time to sit and enjoy a lovely cup. They know their coffee and even write down what blend they’re using at the moment. I give it a 5/5 for sure!
