Brown Bread Pudding

I do almost all of my grocery shopping at Winn-Dixie. A few years ago, if you asked me what a grocery store was, I probably would have said Walmart. You know, on the opposite side from the tires. The town I lived in could be summed up by watching the commotion of the 24 hour Walmart in a two day period, tops. But now that I live in a larger city and do most of my shopping during the day as opposed to 3 a.m. like I used to, I prefer an actual store oriented around, you guessed it, food.

Why Winn-Dixie? They have damn near everything I need or want at any given time, they're incredibly close, and everything in the store is BOGO! Seriously, I've whinged on about them before and all the food I've wasted because of a good BOGO, but done right, it can be awesome. My latest BOGO was whole wheat bread. The fancy kind I like so much. But what does someone who rarely eats bread do with it all? If you're like me, you start a search for brown breading puddings.



I found a likely recipe on the Hillbilly Housewife site. I liked the simplicity and the fact that I had all the ingredients. Two hours later, I was left with rather unimpressive bread-glop. There's nothing inherently wrong with the recipe. However, I like to err on the side of ridiculously rich desserts and this doesn't fit the bill. It's a bit bland and dry. Next time, I'm thinking Bourbon, raisins, and caramel. Anyone have a good Brown Bread pudding to share?

Also, this is the first post for my personal NaBloPoMo challenge. I'm trying to post every day for the month of August in both this blog and my craft blog. Wish me luck!

Response to Comments:
Yes, those are before baked pictures. I couldn't get a decent "after" shot. It was pretty in a rustic way and I was hoping that the simplicity would make each flavor stand out more, but no. It was not to be.

BOGO= Buy one, get one

Beer and Aztec Rice

Okay, now if you don't care to read about my ultimate geekdom, I suggest you leave now. I went to the Rockstar Mayhem show in Atlanta last Friday. Guys. I saw Slayer live.

Slayer.

No, really. And it was live. And so cool. I was never a huge fan (Megadeth is more my speed), but got to hear some of the songs I did like. Plus I've always had a thing for Tom Araya, Slayer bassist and vocalist. He's just so chill. And now for the geekdom: Tom is Chilean. And I'm white, so when I was making Aztec rice, I thought of little Chilean Tom. Mexico. Chile. Whatev.

So Tom, I dedicate this sidedish to you. May you always get enough fiber.

Beer and Aztec Rice

Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, Revised: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

1 T minced jalapeno

1/2 c finely chopped onion

3 lg cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 T finely chopped cilantro

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 c brown rice

1 c water

1 c dark beer, ale, stout

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup frozen peas (I didn't add these. Who really likes peas anyway?)


The instructions for this were a bit confusing, so this is what I think you should do.

1) Saute the jalapeno, onion, and garlic in olive oil until onion is soft- 5 mins.

2) Add cilantro, corianer, and cumin and saute for 1 more min.

3) Add rice, water, beer, and salt. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook on low for 35-40 mins until rice is tender. When nearly done and liquid is almost gone, turn off heat and let the rice sit on the burner for another 5 mins.

4) Remove pot from heat and stir in peas (ugh). Re-cover and let sit for 5 mins to warm peas.

5) Serve.

I added a black bean, corn, tomato combo, melted cheese on top, and wrapped it in a tortilla. Alone, the rice makes for a nice side dish.

*I so wish I had photochop skillz. Then I could make Tom eat my rice. Not in a dirty way.

Beer Pancakes

Yep, you heard right. Breakfast of champions!

I recently checked out the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook by Carole Raymond. The idea what that this might be a great present for my friend, but I wanted to look it over first. So far, this might actually go on my shelf instead. All the recipes are simple and hardly involve what I would call cooking, but it's very inspiring. Things like the humble zucchini and pita bread are called to action with recipes that I've sure never seen before. I've bookmarked most of the book already, so I figured I'd start with the recipe that first caught my attention. Beer pancakes.

Actually, this is a rather ingenious idea. Because of the carbonation, if you stir carefully (instead of whisk to hell like I did), you will come out with nice fluffy pancakes. It's also perfect for someone like me. I rarely buy milk and am not crazy about using water or dried milk in my pancake mix. However, I do love my beer. Since I drink so rarely at home, I'll usually have a few bottles on hand instead of the dairy.

For this recipe, I used a small brew lager. I was afraid that it might be too dark, but it worked out beautifully. You can't taste the beer, but it gives it such a depth of flavor that it's amazing! These are honestly the best pancakes I've ever had. This is going in my favorites. It's good enough that I might actually want to eat pancakes for breakfast. A light pilsner would work just as well, but I would probably stay away from anything darker than lager unless you just want to experiment. I thought the flour was out of whack because it was way thin, so this recipe includes my measurements.

Beer Pancakes

Says 2-3 servings, but gave me about 5 with the way I eat them.

2 c flour, sifted (calls for whole wheat, but I used all-purpose)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking salt
1 egg
3 T oil
1 T honey
12 oz beer

Whisk together dry ingredients and then the first 3 wet ingredients in separate bowls.

Carefully stir the wet mix and beer into the dry mix. It'll be a little lumpy. Cook as normal.

Provencal Beef Stew

My best friend has the most amazing-looking crock pot cookbook. There's a picture for every recipe and they all sound fabulous. She let me borrow it to try out three new recipes this week. This is the first. While I'm not overly impressed with it, this hearty stew was still filling and very beefy. As always, I made several substitutions. Instead of the carrots it called for, I used potatoes that are sitting around plus 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms leftover from the chicken marsala. My bouquet garni only consisted of a bay leaf and some thyme I'm still trying to use. Plus, I didn't use tomato paste.



One day, I'm going to own my own food company. On that day, I am going to alter the life of tomato paste as we know it. It shall come in tubes! Yes, tubes! That way, you can use just the 2 teaspoons called for and not have the rest of the can hanging out until it grows mold. I don't care how carefully you plan, I don't care how much you cook- unless a recipe calls for the whole can, you end up trashing some of it. Am I right? I thought so. I'll step off my soapbox now.

Back to ingredients. I got to open my new bottle of wine (from the wine tasting that I promise I will blog about soon) and the homemade beef stock I made in the crock pot a few weeks ago. Oh, did I forget to mention that? It's beefed up beef stock. Like, I took the time to broil the onions and beefy bone bits and everything. I even froze it in individual 1 cup portions. I'll stop now.



It's alright. I'll eat it, but won't make it again. Why? I'll bet you five bucks it's lack of tomato paste. Damn it. Otherwise it was just straight beef. Beef in beef stock with little else to distract from that. It needs that added depth of flavor to make everything shine. Of course, my best friend really liked it, so it's a matter of personal taste. I'm not scared off for three reasons. 1) Come on, this is me. 2) It's only one recipe. And 3) It's my fault that it wasn't as tasty as it could have been. If you'd like to check out the book, it's called "The Slow Cooker Recipe Book" by Catherine Atkinson. Stay tuned for the next two recipes.

Chicken Marsala and a Daiquiri

Cooking for one has its own problems. Granted, I've been doing it for so long that I don't really think about it. Usually, I'll just make a full recipe and eat on it for several days, saving me time cooking when I'm too tired. However, there are lots of things I'd like to try, but can't seem to justify doing for myself. So what's a girl to do? Have company.

My mom visited for the night, which was a perfect excuse to make something a little more fancy than normal. I've been daydreaming of a chicken dish I had at a restaurant several months ago that featured wine-soaked mushrooms atop a chicken breast. It wasn't quite the same, but when it's this good who cares? Paired with herb-cheese mashed potatoes and icy mixed drinks, it was a hit. Watching my mom's face as I paid nearly $6 for "exotic" mushrooms was just a bonus. This also marks my first attempt at cooking mushrooms at home and adds to the handful of times I've tried them at all.



The original recipe can be found here, but I made some modifications and would make just a few more next time I make this. I feel almost white-trashy adding this, but it's also good with melted cheese on top. And you know what? I'm not going to show you what it looks like! Hah! Really, I actually had decent pictures of it, but somehow deleted them. Srsly. Edit: I found them! It's amazing what happens when you, you know, take the time to really look.



Chicken Marsala

4 Servings

1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I used oyster, but I think crimini and shitake would also go well)
1 cup Marsala wine
1/4 - 1/3 cup cream

1. As far as I can tell, button mushrooms have little to no flavor (unless they're fried). Use dried mushrooms and soak them in the wine for 15-30 minutes before you start cooking. Whatever you have time for.

2. Pound out chicken breasts to a quarter of an inch thick.

3. Stir flour, salt, pepper, and oregano together. Use it to coat the chicken.

4. Melt butter and oil in pan, cook chicken on both sides for about 3-5 minutes until brown. Put them in a dish in a warm oven.

5. If you have bits stuck to your pan, quickly deglaze it with the wine. Dump wine and mushrooms into pan and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to med-low and cook until mushrooms are soft. Near the end, add the cream. Spoon sauce over chicken and dig in. Enjoy with the cocktail below.



Peach and Mango Daiquiri
From the Bon Appetit cookbook

4 servings

3/4 cup frozen mango-peach juice concentrate, thawed
3/4 cup light rum
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 16 oz package frozen unsweetened sliced peaches
Fresh mint springs, optional

1. Puree juice concentrate, rum, orange juice, and sugar in blender. Add half the frozen peaches and puree again. Keep adding peaches a few at a time until smooth. Serve with mint as garnish.

My mom played bartender during this meal. Unfortunately, my grocery store didn't carry juice concentrate, so we used a tropical mixed juice for all of it. Still good, but it'll be better next time. My mom also spent the time to help me take a bunch of well orchestrated pictures. That I deleted. Thanks mom.

Pork Schnitzel with Sour Cream Dill Sauce

Recently, my friends and I have been cooking a lot. Mostly, I'm not involved in any way, but I took over my friend's kitchen a week or so ago and whipped up probably the best shrimp scampi I've ever made just with what he had on hand. So we've been experimenting a bit more and decided to try something different for the holiday. Seeing as how I've been craving schnitzel since I'd seen this recipe months ago, I suggested it. Luckily, my friends love me and agreed. They paired it with a corn casserole, and some chips and AMAZING black bean salsa picked up at a recent wine tasting.

The schnitzel was so easy to make, but really satisfying. Right out of the pan, the pork is so juicy and flavorful you might not need sauce. After it rested, it lost a bit of the flavor though. The sauce is too salty on its own, but pairs nicely with the pork. Most of my experience with pork chops has been dismal, so I'm really excited to have something revive my interest in them. Schnitzel is where it's at.



If you're looking for an interesting read, check out the comments for this recipe at the original sight. There are quite a few confused Americans amid the pissed off Germans and Austrians. Me? I just love sour cream. Please excuse the appalling photos. I had crap lighting and I was hungry.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread

My best friend is the pickiest eater I know. She's like a little kid sometimes. It's too spicy, it's too sour, it tastes "too foreign" (after a spoonful of tom gha), or it's got a funky texture. I love her to death, but she makes me want to scream sometimes. And as much as I like to rib her about... well pretty much everything, not the least of which are her food idiosyncrasies*, I get not liking texture. Sure, it has to be a more extreme case for me to be bothered, but there are some foods that you just can't get around the literal feeling of it.

I know for a fact that dessicated coconut is the bane of existence for many a person. I happen to be one of them. I love the flavor of coconut. I'll use cans of coconut milk in brownies. I'll mix up a pina colada in a heartbeat. What I won't do is touch anything with the dried out, soulless, pathetic excuse for food that is coconut flakes. Like cockroaches never die, you can't chew it and you'll never get it out of your mouth. Ever.

Lest you think I'm too hard on it, I keep giving it chances. Like everything else, I refuse to believe that I won't like it or that I will hate something based on superficial reasons. Before toasting, I even shoved a bite of crappy, non-chewable coconut in my mouth to sample for the millionth time, hoping that this time I would get over my texture issues. Nope. Still tastes like waxed paper. But oh boy, not after toasting. I was licking the residue out of my coffee grinder with a spoon for goodness sake.

I have a really hard time with rolled cookies and these were no exception. My rolling skills are practically nonexistent. Plus, with so much butter, I found it hard to find that happy medium where they weren't hard as a rock or buttery goo. My first batch burned. I even broke out my favorite cookie cutter and used it for the first time.



Alas, it was not to be. However, my second batch with a biscuit cutter worked out well. I still have some scraps to bake up if I'm feeling more adventurous later on.



Mine weren't quite as tender as I usually like my shortbread, but I think that was my fault. My rolling skills leave much to be desired, hence the lack of rolled cookie recipes on this site. They were just a tad too salty, but the coconut flavor was a delicate compliment to the buttery flavor I love so well. I would decrease the amount of salt next time and possibly add some coconut flavoring. I'm very happy with how these turned out. Even the best friend couldn't complain too much.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread
from Smitten Kitchen

I looked up this word to make sure I was spelling it right and lo! Check out one of its definitions:

An unusual or unexpected sensitivity exhibited by an individual to a particular food or drug. Idiosyncrasy is usually determined genetically and it may be due to a biological deficiency (e.g. an inability to metabolize a drug).

Too perfect, right? I learned something new today.

Guatemala Banana Bread

So, I was browsing this site the other day and noticed the glut of banana bread recipes. It's strange. Banana bread is something I think I only make once in a while. I suppose that's true, but it's also likely the most often made food on my blog along with roast chicken, roast potatoes, and baked mac. This is much more a case of my gross abuse of produce than any true affection for this quick bread. Sure it's tasty and good with a hot beverage. Sure it's easy to make and uses up what would otherwise go bad. But it's something I get sick of pretty easily. I have a low banana threshold most of the time.

Yet, here I am again, with a bunch of bananas glaring at me to use them before they're descended upon by the gnats living in my garbage disposal. And I shall answer this call! Only this time, I'm just coming off a pina colada streak and want something along those lines. At first I figured I'd just wing it, but that doesn't always work out for me. A search did turn up this recipe though.

Most banana bread recipes only call for a banana or two. I don't know about you, but when I've got some to use, I've got a bunch. This recipe called for 4 cups of mashed banana, so I thought great! I've got 5. I now know that a normal sized banana is about a 1/2 cup. With only 2 1/2 cups, I added some cream cheese that needed to be used and some vanilla yogurt that's also nearing its time. Bottom line, not enough banana. Next time I'll know.

The recipe also calls for raisins and cashews. Since I was going for more of a cocktail vibe, I added macadamia nuts and dried pineapple pieces soaked overnight in Myer's dark rum. Being an adult is cool. I even saved the leftover rum to pour on top of the loaf. Alas, even the booze couldn't save this loaf. It was too dry and didn't have much flavor. I don't blame the recipe though. I think I'll try again with enough banana and see how that goes. Sigh. Another time perhaps.