tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14501886017248390612024-02-07T20:51:43.730-05:00Gooey SomethingsPricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-56226619592185714522016-08-29T20:27:00.001-04:002016-08-31T14:21:48.348-04:00Peanut Butter and Honey Brownies<div>
Let's clear the air here. It's been a year and a half since my last post. In that time we had two
foster boys live with us, bought a house, and I trained for and rode in a 140-mile bike ride, twice. It's been a big year. I shouldn't pretend that anyone is out there still reading my humble blog, but I will pretend: Hi again. Here's a recipe that I apparently made, wrote about and then completely forgot about, but it looks amazing, doesn't it? Oh, I don't have a picture. You'll have to use your imagination.</div>
Apparently, I used <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/07/the-best-fudgy-brownies.html" target="_blank">this</a> recipe as a starting point (I really don't remember any of this...).<br />
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<b>Peanut Butter and Honey Brownies</b></div>
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1 cube butter (1/2 cup)</div>
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1 cup white sugar</div>
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3/4 cup cocoa powder (I started out using Hershey's special dark, but then ran out so 1/4 cup of it was regular natural cocoa powder)</div>
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1/2 tsp salt</div>
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1/2 tsp vanilla extract</div>
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4 eggs</div>
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1/2 cup flour</div>
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1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter</div>
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2-3 Tbsp honey</div>
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Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the white sugar, cocoa powder and salt. When the butter is all melted, take the pan off the heat and let it cool off a little. The mixture will look grainy and not very appetizing.<br />
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When the butter/sugar/cocoa mixture is has cooled down a little, add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time mixing well after each. Now the mixture looks a little more tasty, yes? It should be getting glossy and beautiful. Add the flour at the end and stir it in just until you can't see it anymore. </div>
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Put the peanut butter and honey together in a small bowl, give it a tiny stir - we don't want it to be a homogenous mixture, just very slightly combined. </div>
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Now pour the brownie batter into your prepared pan, 8" x 8" is the proper size (but my notes say that I used a 9" cast iron pan, which I can believe because until a few months ago I didn't even own an 8x8 pan...). Scoop spoonfuls of the peanut butter/honey mixture on top of the brownie batter at evenly spaced intervals. With a spatula or a butter knife, swirl the peanut butter/honey into the batter until it it is beautifully marbled, don't overdo it, it doesn't need to be homogenous here either. </div>
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Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes.<br />
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Let cool, now eat up. </div>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-52034681027436254032015-02-07T10:24:00.000-05:002015-02-07T10:24:38.091-05:00Pear and Chocolate and Almond TartDuring our Christmas celebrations, we made and ate a lot of pies, and this one really stood out and was a clear favorite with most of us. It is based on <a href="http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1134-pear-and-chocolate-tart" target="_blank">this recipe</a> from the New York Times. I made it again for a work party, and conveniently remembered to take pictures also. This time I made it in a 9" springform pan because my pie dish was already occupied, so the crust is a little wonky, but that certainly didn't affect the flavor .<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>Chocolate Pear Almond Tart</b><br />
3-4 pears, ripe but firm<br />
juice of 1 lemon<br />
3/4 cup sugar, divided<br />
4 oz bittersweet chocolate<br />
3 Tbsp butter, softened<br />
2 eggs<br />
1/2 cup almond flour<br />
7 or 8 oz package almond paste or marzipan<br />
1 pie crust, par baked (we used this <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sour_cream_pie_crust/" target="_blank">sour cream pie crust</a> - so easy)<br />
Preheat oven to 350.<br />
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Prepare the Pears:<br />
Peel, halve and core the pears, place in a saucepan, and cover with cold water, add the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Heat on medium to a simmer, let cook for 7-10 minutes, until the pears are just getting a little softer. You don't want them very soft because they will bake some more with the whole pie. Drain well.<br />
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While the pears are cooking, prepare the Chocolate Filling:<br />
Melt the chocolate, add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then stir in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the almond flour.<br />
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Assemble:<br />
Roll out the almond paste to a circle the size of the inside of your pie crust, place on the bottom of the crust. Spread the chocolate filling on top. Slice the pear halves into long quarters (each slice should be about 1/8 of a pear) and arrange on top of the chocolate in a nice pattern. The 3 times we made this, we only ended up using about 2 1/2 pears total.<br />
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Bake for 30 minutes, the chocolate filling should get a little puffy and look dry on the outside.<br />
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Serve warm or cold, whipped cream makes it even better. Try to get a second piece before it's all gone. Make it again tomorrow.<br />
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-78266267758580972992014-11-05T21:09:00.001-05:002014-11-06T09:37:59.218-05:00Winning EyeballsI don't love Halloween. I never liked dressing up, I don't like being scared, and all the gross/creepy things on purpose are not my cup of tea. But at work we had a Halloween party, and one part of the festivities was an "ugly food" contest with a promised prize, so I decided to get a little halloween-y and make something a little gruesome looking: <b><span style="color: red;">eyeballs floating in a pool of blood.</span></b><br />
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And guess what?! <br />
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I won!<br />
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Sorry this is too late for y'all to make your own prize-winning eyeballs for Halloween this year, but here it is for next year.<br />
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<i>Notes: </i><br />
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If I did it again I would cut the recipe in half. I only made 12 eyeballs and then had tons of the panna cotta left over, which I poured into a bread pan for a mold, sliced and served with more "blood" sauce. It was delicious, but not everyone likes gelatin based desserts, so it was an excessive amount for our relatively small party.<br />
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You will need something spherical or semi-spherical-ish for a mold. I used <i>mochi ice cream containers</i> which were (luckily) just the right size and shape to work with the grape "iris", and it was a good excuse to get mochi ice cream from a certain specialty food store. You can also find them at some Asian markets.<br />
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I arranged the instructions into very small, very manageable steps; it looks like a lot, but it isn't hard.<br />
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<b>Coconut Panna Cotta "Eyeballs" with Raspberry-Cherry "Blood" sauce</b><br />
2 cans (400mL) coconut milk<br />
2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin (1/2 oz or 14 grams)<br />
1 cup water<br />
1 cup white sugar<br />
12 dried blueberries (more or less, depending on how many eyeballs you want)<br />
6-12 green seedless grapes (more or less, depending on how many eyeballs you want)<br />
fresh or frozen raspberries and/or cherries<br />
a little more white sugar (just a teaspoon or two should do it)<br />
Pomegranate arils (optional)<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><b>To make the "eyeballs":</b></span><br />
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1) Warm coconut milk in a saucepan, stir occasionally, or it will do some crazy splattering. Don't let it come to a boil.<br />
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2) Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan, let stand about 1 minute, then start warming this up over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin is dissolved. <br />
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3) By now your coconut milk should be hot, but not boiling. Pour the hot gelatin water into the hot coconut milk, add the 1 cup of sugar and keep stirring over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, it should just take a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and let it start cooling.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">While the mixture is cooling, start prepping your eyeball molds and with the other eyeball parts:</span></b><br />
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4) Make sure your mochi ice cream cups (or whatever you are using for a mold - see note above) are clean and dry.<br />
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5) Put the dried blueberries in a small bowl, pour boiling water over, let stand for a couple of minutes to soften.<br />
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6) Cut some grapes in half latitudinally, scoop out a small amount of grape insides, just enough to fit a dried blueberry inside.<br />
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7) Insert the soaked dried blueberry into the hollow you just made in the grape half, place the grape half cut-side down in the mold. Press down to make the blueberry and grape as flat against the bottom of the mold as possible.<br />
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8) Repeat with as many grapes and blueberries you need to fill all the molds you have to make as many eyeballs as you want.<br />
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9) Pour the coconut milk-gelatin mixture into the molds over the grapes. Hold the grape halves down with a finger while you pour so they stay centered and flat against the bottom and don't get pushed around.<br />
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10) Let the panna cotta finish cooling and setting up in the fridge, it will take a couple of hours.<b><span style="color: #660000;"> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #660000;">To make the "blood":</span></b><br />
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11) Warm up some raspberries with a little sugar (I used about 1 1/2 cups frozen) with a little sugar until the sugar is dissolved, the raspberries will break apart, but that is just fine.<br />
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12) If you want to use cherries also, place them in a blender (I used about 1 cup frozen) pour the warm raspberry mush in the blender over the cherries, blend together until everything is pureed, but not liquified. Add a little water if necessary to keep the blender from getting stuck.<br />
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13) Put the raspberry-cherry puree through a sieve to separate the good stuff from the seeds. Store the sauce in the fridge until you are ready to serve with eyeballs.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>To assemble the "eyeballs floating in a pool of blood":</b></span><br />
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14) Unmold the panna cotta cups onto a serving platter. I had to gently pull some of them out with my fingers, they didn't all come right out easily when I flipped over the mold. Arrange them strategically on the platter.<br />
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15) Some of the coconut gelatin may have gone underneath the grapes/blueberries so that when you flip them over it is hard to see the "iris" and "pupil," kind of like a cataract (well, more like a pterygium), so you may perform surgery -- very carefully cut some gelatin away from the grapes so that they'll be visible. This can all be done ahead of time.<br />
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16) Just before serving, pour the sauce around the eyeballs artistically, and sprinkle the pomegranate arils around also, if desired.<br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Claim your prize and dig in!</b></span><br />
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<i>Credit where credit is due: </i><br />
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Recipe from <a href="http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/253/coconut+jelly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>, but there are tons of coconut jelly/panna cotta recipes out there that looked amazing. I used this one because it was very basic and simple, just a few ingredients. And it really was delicious.<br />
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Coconut and fruit eyeball plus raspberry "blood" idea from <a href="http://kitchentablescraps.com/cheap-and-tasty/creepy-coconut-kiwi-panna-cotta/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>, but it seems like it wouldn't work with kiwi fruit since kiwis have that protein-disolving enzyme, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinidain" target="_blank">antinidain</a>.<br />
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Mochi ice cream mold idea from <a href="http://www.halloweenforum.com/party-ideas-experiences-and-recipes/86287-dessert-recipe-almond-milk-jello-eyeballs.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Using grapes as irides idea from Lovemuffin who answered "grapes" when I asked "what can I use as a spherical jello mold?" (he's so cute.)Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-48367356921369370862014-03-24T15:00:00.000-04:002014-03-25T06:58:24.703-04:00Eggy Cheesy ToastMy new favorite breakfast, like fried eggs already assembled with bread and cheese.<br />
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<b>Eggy Cheesy Toast</b><br />
1 slice sturdy bread (I used rosemary bread from our local bakery brushed with a little olive oil, fluffy white bread probably won't work)<br />
1 egg<br />
2 slices of cheese, enough to cover your piece of bread<br />
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(I liked mozzarella the best, but cheddar was good too)<br />
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Preheat the broiler.<br />
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Place the bread on an oiled pan (I use my cast-iron pan) break the egg on top, put the cheese on top of the egg, put the pan in the oven, not to close to the broiler flame (I put the rack on the 2nd shelf, about 7" away from the flame), let it cook for a few minutes. The cheese will get nice and bubbly and toasty, and you can cake it out when the egg is at your desired level of cooked-ness, you can let the yolk get firm or take it out when it's still runny. Let it cool off a little before you bite into it, and enjoy.<br />
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I'm thinking next time I'll put some caramelized onions between the bread and the egg, that would be good.Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-3768782595197033592014-03-13T19:52:00.000-04:002014-03-13T19:52:07.739-04:00Getting Ready for Pi Day with Crustless Apple PiesTomorrow is Pi Day (3.14... --> 3/14) and it's such a great excuse to make and eat pie, since pi is about circles, and pie is in the shape of a circle, it's only appropriate. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Although I guess there are other treats shaped like circles, but it's not the same. And apparently January 23rd is always National Pie Day, but we always forget about that one.)</span> So, I'm really excited, we should have a lot of pies tomorrow at the office. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(I LOVE my work.)</span><br />
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I'm planning to make apple and rhubarb <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarte_Tatin" target="_blank">tarte tatin</a> (which I've wanted to try for a long time) based on <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pear_tarte_tatin/" target="_blank">this recipe</a>, and I kind of want to try a buttermilk pie, because I have buttermilk in the fridge, and maybe I would add orange zest to it. That sounds good, right? I have my pie crusts made, and I did them differently this time, using <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/no_fail_flakey_pastry_crust/" target="_blank">this</a> recipe, except I used buttermilk instead of sour cream, because of all the buttermilk in the fridge, so we'll see how that turns out. (Don't worry, I did some research, and there is such a thing as buttermilk pie crust, so it should be fine.)<br />
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And tonight, to get ready and share the joy of pi(e), I made these <a href="http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/crustless-apple-pie/" target="_blank">Crustless Apple Pies</a> (because these are circles, too). I changed it up a little, we were feeding a gluten-free person, so no flour and no oats because oats are often processed in the same facilities as flour, and are often contaminated with gluten.<br />
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<b>Mini Crustless Apple Pies</b> (I'm calling them mini because the apples were pretty small)<br />
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6 granny smith apples, cut in half and cored (or any good type of baking apple)<br />
handful of dried pitted dates<br />
honey (sorry, I didn't measure it, maybe 1/8 cup, possibly even less, honey is super sweet)<br />
1 tsp tapioca flour (you could use cornstarch or flour, but if you can get tapioca flour I recommend it, I use tapioca for thickening all my fruit pies now)<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg<br />
pinch of cardamom<br />
zest of 1 lemon<br />
juice of 1 lemon<br />
about 1/2 - 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut<br />
2 Tbsp butter, melted<br />
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Scoop out the innards of the apple halves with a melon baller - I never would have thought a melon baller would work so well on apples, but it's perfect, it's also just the right size for coring the apple halves - leaving about 1/3" of flesh inside of the peel, set aside the scooped out innards, treat the apple shells and pieces with lemon juice to keep them from browning while you work (I didn't have enough lemon juice so I filled up a bowl with cold water and a little white vinegar and let the cut up apples hang out in it).<br />
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Soak the dates in boiling hot water for a few minutes to let them get soft, cut into smallish pieces.<br />
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Mix together apple-innard pieces (you might want to cut these a little smaller than melon-baller size) and soaked dates, pour on some honey until it looks good (taste a piece of apple to see if its at a good sweetness level), add the tapioca flour, spices, lemon zest and lemon juice, stir it all together.<br />
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Place the hollowed out apple halves on a baking sheet, stuff this delightful mixture into each shell, dividing equally between all of them, it should be a little mounded up, but not overfull in each.<br />
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Mix together the sweetened coconut and melted butter (I whizzed the coconut through my spice blender for a few seconds to get it into finer pieces, I don't love the texture of it in long shreds), and divide out spoonfuls on top of each apple half.<br />
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Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, the juices will be going all over, and the coconut topping will be crisp, and the apples shells will be getting soft , but not collapsing. Let cool a little and serve, maybe with ice cream or whipped cream.<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-66502848106901294092014-03-11T09:00:00.000-04:002014-03-11T12:44:19.757-04:00Korean Style Vegetable PancakesDo you have in your life, or are you one of those difficult people with some kind of dietary restriction? Vegetarian? Gluten free? Lactose intolerant? Here's the recipe for you: meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free. And tasty and pretty filling. (Not vegan, though, sorry vegans.)<br />
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The basis for this recipe is from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," and I am loving it (I've probably made these 4 times in the last month). I multiplied it the original by 1 1/2 and should have done even more, because if you're going to stand over a stove cooking stacks of pancakes, might as well go big, like when you make crepes, always double or triple the recipe, you know they'll get eaten. </div>
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This would be a good recipe for using up leftover difficult vegetables. You could probably even use one of those bags of prepped coleslaw or broccoli slaw mix. This time around I used shredded carrots, chopped onions, and slightly steamed cabbage. I think putting green onions in it gives it more of the Korean vibe, and I particularly like it with sauteed mushrooms, to give it a little meaty-ness. And it's an easy recipe to adjust, the egg : flour : water ratio is simple (1 : 1 : 3/4) and doesn't require complex math to scale up or down. And these are good the next day, and the next day after that, they just need a little rewarming, so go ahead, scale it up, and turn on a TV show or find a good book to read while you do some serious pancake cooking.<br />
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<b>Korean Style Vegetable Pancakes</b></div>
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3 eggs</div>
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3 cups rice flour **see note at bottom </div>
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2 1/4 cups water</div>
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salt to taste</div>
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pepper to taste</div>
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any other spices you like (chili powder, coriander, paprika, basil, garlic, etc) to taste</div>
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about 3 cups? ( I didn't measure, oops.) chopped or shredded vegetables (carrot, summer squash, green onion, slightly steamed cabbage, peppers, regular onions, sauteed mushrooms, broccoli, etc)</div>
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Whisk together eggs, rice flour, water, salt, pepper, and any spices you want. Add your chopped and shredded vegetables. There should be plenty of vegetable per batter, I wish I'd measured for you. </div>
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Heat up a skillet to medium or medium high heat, lightly oil the skillet and scoop out some vegetable/batter onto the hot skillet. I used about a cup, maybe a little less, of the mixture in my 9" cast iron pan. There should be enough batter-iness to the batter to completely encase the vegetables, but it should still be plenty vegetable-y. I found that I had to quickly move rearrange clumps of vegetables to get them evenly distributed among the batter. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">batter in the pan a couple minutes before flipping</td></tr>
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Let it cook for a few minutes, the bottom should get getting a little color, and the top will probably be dry, carefully flip it over and let it cook a few minutes more until the top gets a little color on the parts that stick out, then gently scoop it off onto a plate. Repeat with remaining batter. Be sure to flip gently, and don't flip before it's ready, especially if you are doing all rice flour, they will be more delicate than the regular breakfast pancakes you might be used to, because there's no gluten to hold it all together.</div>
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Cut into triangles and serve with soy sauce, sriracha, Thai sweet chili sauce (my favorite), or whatever else floats your boat. This size batch made 6 9" pancakes. </div>
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**Mark Bittman says you can use all or part wheat flour, but I like the texture of using all rice flour best, and then you can feed it to your gluten-free friends or self. I get rice flour at the Asian or international grocery store, I think you can also get it at Whole Foods or in the special healthy section of a grocery store if you have a good grocery store.</div>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-25573932365955026072014-03-05T21:03:00.000-05:002014-03-06T06:48:59.359-05:00New CookbookHello Friends. I noticed today on my blog aggregator that my own blog has become a dead feed. I haven't posted for at least 5 months.<br />
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Disgraceful!<br />
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So I wanted to share quickly, I just acquired a new cookbook! In between high school and college I worked at a cafe, it was a pretty great job, we made some awesome food, with some amazing recipes. My favorite was the chocolate pound cake with chocolate sauce and raspberries, and I've been looking for a long time for a similar recipe, but nothing I could find looked like it. And then, good news! My old boss has compiled and printed the most popular recipes, all the best ones, I bought a copy last week and I've already made 2 things from it, including, of course, the chocolate pound cake.<br />
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(I made it as extra large cupcakes instead of bunt cake. And I messed up the chocolate sauce trying to be clever, it didn't turn out saucy.)<br />
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I can't wait to make the Caribbean chicken and Thai chicken wraps again (sans chicken for me) and try the India wrap, a new-to-me recipe with lentils and yogurt dipping sauce, sounds delightful! And have fond memories of the spinach lasagna, and all the muffins, and the carrot cake, and the apple cake with caramel sauce and pretty much everything else. Mmmmm.<br />
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You can buy the cookbook from Linda by emailing msacookbook (at) gmail (dot) com. Oh, and this is not a sponsored post, I am not being reimbursed for my opinions. :)<br />
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And, no promises, but soon I would like to put up directions for homemade ricotta, as well as 2 recipes to use your fresh homemade ricotta, let's see how long that takes me to get those up, shall we?<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-24780868960257907382013-10-14T09:33:00.000-04:002013-10-14T09:33:49.603-04:00Leftover Egg White Ideas and Macaroon ReduxI have a friend who told me that she was working on a spreadsheet that shows which recipes have only egg whites or yolks, and how many of each, so that it would be easy to plan ways to make lots of awesome stuff without wasting half an egg. Good idea, right? I'm inspired to label blog posts in this way, maybe it will be easy to find egg white/egg yolk companion recipes.<br />
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After making the lovely <a href="http://gooeysomethings.blogspot.com/2013/10/tiramisu-for-mormons.html" target="_blank">tiramisu</a> which uses 4 egg yolks and no egg whites, and not wanting to just throw away the egg whites, I brainstormed ways to use them all:<br />
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-Make an egg white omelet<br />
-Make 2 more batches of tiramisu, and use the 12 leftover egg whites for angel food cake<br />
-Use in pancakes/waffles instead of whole eggs<br />
-Make macaroons --> the winner!<br />
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If you have any more ideas, please share in the comments :)<br />
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I doubled <a href="http://gooeysomethings.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-macaroons.html" target="_blank">my macaroon</a> recipe, and I thought I would re-do the recipe for you with better instructions, but no pictures.<br />
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<strong>Macaroons</strong></div>
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3 c. unsweetened coconut</div>
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1 c. finely chopped almonds</div>
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1 c. sugar</div>
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4 egg whites</div>
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Preheat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet. </div>
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Chop up the coconut finely - I do this in my awesome spice grinder about 1 cup at a time; it just takes a couple seconds and I shake the grinder while it works to get everything ground evenly, but not turned it into powder. Place the chopped coconut, finely chopped almonds and sugar in a bowl, mix all together. Add egg whites, mix well. This last time I made the cookies, I beat the egg whites for a couple minutes until they were frothy before adding them, and it was easier to mix them evenly into the dry ingredients, and I think it gave the finished cookies a better texture.</div>
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Scoop small balls of the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet, only about 2 tablespoons per cookie, or use a small ice cream/cookie scoop things for easy evenly sized cookies. Bake for about 10 minutes, them set on the pan for a couple of minutes, then scoop them off and let them cool on a rack.</div>
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These cookies will not spread out, you can place them very close together on the pan and they will not grow into each other. I fit this whole (double-)batch onto one cookie sheet. </div>
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-1722122430972414442013-10-04T23:17:00.001-04:002013-10-14T09:14:47.570-04:00Tiramisu for MormonsWhile the government is shut down, Lovemuffin is home, video gaming, catching up on dental work, and watching Downton Abbey (but you didn't hear that last one from me). I suggested that he make this treat for me to come home to after my long day of work (someone's got to bring home the vegi-bacon), it's called Sinfully Sinless Tiramisu and it has no coffee or rum in it. (No judgment if you go for the Tiramisu with rum and coffee - everyone is welcome here :) )<br />
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I saw it first on my friend's <a href="http://thisisawesomeland.com/2013/10/01/sinfully-sinless-tiramisu/" target="_blank">blog</a>, and the original recipe is <a href="http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/12/sinfully-sinless-tiramisu-sugar-rush-12.html" target="_blank">here</a>, You'll have to click over to one of those links for the recipe, it's too many steps for me to write it all out for you. But don't be put off by the many steps and components. It was pretty easy for us to do it, and we even made it together, which usually is more difficult. (Lovemuffin thinks I'm bossy when I want him to cook with me, and doesn't like that. What?!?)<br />
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Instead of copying the whole recipe for you I "documented" the process.<br />
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Lovemuffin dipped the ladyfingers in the chocolate mix and arranged in the pan (and looked super serious the whole time).<br />
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I made the custard part. I've never made a real custard from scratch over the stove before. Here are my Special Instructions for other custard first-timers: read and follow the instructions, re-read as needed, and google search for descriptions and images of "custard back of spoon" for more insights to help you know when it's done.</div>
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We forgot to document the whipping of the cream, the mixing together of the custard and the mascarpone cheese and then the whipped cream, the layering construction and sprinkling of cocoa powder, you'll have to use your imagination. But here is the finished product after chilling in the fridge, ready for (Mormon) consumption!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSbTukaupgk2vIOtEMRdbWwqJFnyuE1Ik7Klo-e2BZpTuLfvMWJbWQVZ0-3Csd_KNoh_kZfvlNIME7CqAoNMB84CGmjs1-pYCBftEZdHDe8Z35Cz2p3H2OoFw4FZPMQTemp7o_J8Xsoc/s1600/IMG_0114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSbTukaupgk2vIOtEMRdbWwqJFnyuE1Ik7Klo-e2BZpTuLfvMWJbWQVZ0-3Csd_KNoh_kZfvlNIME7CqAoNMB84CGmjs1-pYCBftEZdHDe8Z35Cz2p3H2OoFw4FZPMQTemp7o_J8Xsoc/s400/IMG_0114.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctMM8GRNEuyhN89sDtXsrjPTNxA3girrBk0NCyTsRNn7_m1CiklewXShkH0lZ9ofWF3HcomPaiFgLLrqlntZaN5NRHVhIoTg4a5xGLJBkzzf7JBnShJb2_i1rcNQHlC69vMkTPHx8hPQ/s1600/IMG_0129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctMM8GRNEuyhN89sDtXsrjPTNxA3girrBk0NCyTsRNn7_m1CiklewXShkH0lZ9ofWF3HcomPaiFgLLrqlntZaN5NRHVhIoTg4a5xGLJBkzzf7JBnShJb2_i1rcNQHlC69vMkTPHx8hPQ/s400/IMG_0129.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This was amazing, so delicious, super rich and decadent. It is definitely going to become part of my repertoire. </div>
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A couple more notes: </div>
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1) Someone (not me) really likes the rum flavor, so he doubled the rum extract, I thought that was too much, but it wasn't terrible or inedible, just more rummy than I like. I also would have been happy with just vanilla extract added. The hazards of cooking with others.</div>
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2) At first Lovemuffin was afraid that he had soaked the ladyfinger cookies too long, so he took out the extra saturated ones and replaced them (I suspect he mostly wanted to taste test the soaked cookies), but when we cut into it the cookies were pretty crunchy still, next time we will probably soak them for longer. But I imagine that the further in advance you make the Tiramisu, the more moisture the cookies can soak up, so that's something to take into account. I'll have to test this theory tomorrow at breakfast. Haha! </div>
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*edit* After eating this dessert all weekend, I recommend that if you are making it ahead of time, give yourself enough time to let it chill/set up overnight, closer to 12 hours. The custard/mascarpone will set up more and hold the pieces together, instead of what you see in our pictures, where all the cookie parts are falling apart and the custard is oozing everywhere. And I was right, the ladyfingers will get properly softened after a longer chill time. But if you just CAN'T WAIT extra time to dig in, it of course tastes just as good after a short 4 hour set-up time. </div>
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Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what is up with these faces I'm making here. Lovemuffin sure knows how to catch me at my best. (Oh yeah, and check out my shirt, I made that shirt, you should see the stripe matching! BAM!) (Also, bonus points for me for the number of parentheses used in this post.)</div>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-43426183363489925732013-08-11T09:51:00.000-04:002013-08-11T10:39:14.709-04:00Another Summer SaladI recently rediscovered a fancy pumpkin seed oil and quince balsamic vinegar set that was given to me a while ago, the bottles were hiding in the outside fridge, lonely and forgotten. I read something online about eating pumpkin seed oil with heirloom tomatoes, and it sparked a memory -- I have pumpkin seed oil! It was very exciting. So this is the salad that I made:<br />
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About 3 large tomatoes, diced<br />
2 small-medium sized cucumbers, diced<br />
a few basil leaves, chopped<br />
1 can of small white beans, drained and rinsed well<br />
drizzle of pumpkin seed oil, to taste<br />
drizzle of quince balsamic vinegar, to taste<br />
sprinkle of salt<br />
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Combine everything in a bowl, toss it all together, and eat.<br />
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We ate this with corn on the cob for a light dinner. No pictures - our camera has been missing for 2 weeks. It will turn up, but prepare yourself for some more picture-less posts, I actually have things to share.<br />
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Also, thank you, Laura, for your comment, it's always nice to see that I still have readers, even after a long break between posts. :)Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-54960230645457852872013-07-21T14:11:00.001-04:002013-08-11T09:52:08.474-04:002 Summer SaladsHappy Summer!<br />
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Wow, I haven't posted for a long time. So, dear readers, to make up for that (because I know your life revolves around this blog), I have 2 recipes - double whammy!<br />
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They are barely recipes, and I can't take credit for inventing either of them, but I have pictures (but only of one of them).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUOy-sY6du7laTmUZqVG6Rr-FL3t_FyCbpQlDE8_Vjbm6BUc3G6boIqSueRStVMBJEwkxk4he2fg2difaac1Ml1F-OZXEzPp0CX_cgvCYUqIBMdpMjPnGm6zNbSw8ad_1VuoVsDYKVtc/s1600/IMG_1044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUOy-sY6du7laTmUZqVG6Rr-FL3t_FyCbpQlDE8_Vjbm6BUc3G6boIqSueRStVMBJEwkxk4he2fg2difaac1Ml1F-OZXEzPp0CX_cgvCYUqIBMdpMjPnGm6zNbSw8ad_1VuoVsDYKVtc/s400/IMG_1044.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first is basically caprese salad.<br />
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Here's what you do:<br />
Cut up some tomatoes (fresh from the garden), cut up some mozzarella from the grocery store, chiffonade those fresh basil leaves (also growing in the garden), sprinkle with olive oil and maybe a little salt.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstke4dSshwWmbLZHxKha6nXbVU38sMMkZBqu2nj9snbTrlVqcMmgMjdvooPWBzVQlzR3_CA9kLy5rFRU8EvI-J5uY9q-uqIqDSkDxO5vbFUD2ypirLZKHSGJVhID2ZCYJxSRsOzh19fI/s1600/IMG_1046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstke4dSshwWmbLZHxKha6nXbVU38sMMkZBqu2nj9snbTrlVqcMmgMjdvooPWBzVQlzR3_CA9kLy5rFRU8EvI-J5uY9q-uqIqDSkDxO5vbFUD2ypirLZKHSGJVhID2ZCYJxSRsOzh19fI/s400/IMG_1046.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Eat outside with your lovemuffin.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnuG-Y8TX5W_lr5D-aLToQ_ZjLv-etUlCrrwTN65NdOEdUAUCgT0hd393gIqrUsHMUmuZqyPZQ0P5f8sBXmyOYcbxOm3VHchJXH8XnqHuGieTvPK2h4icD87oPBEAwJpbz1-2f_NDeTM/s1600/IMG_1048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnuG-Y8TX5W_lr5D-aLToQ_ZjLv-etUlCrrwTN65NdOEdUAUCgT0hd393gIqrUsHMUmuZqyPZQ0P5f8sBXmyOYcbxOm3VHchJXH8XnqHuGieTvPK2h4icD87oPBEAwJpbz1-2f_NDeTM/s400/IMG_1048.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The second salad is something that we got at a tapas place in DC called <a href="http://www.pulpodc.com/" target="_blank">Pulpo</a>, it doesn't look like it's on their menu anymore, so I don't know what they called it. It probably deserves a name other than a list of its ingredients, any suggestions? <br />
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Cut up some:<br />
Watermelon (I did about 1/4 of a largish melon)<br />
Cucumber (I used 1 regular cuke)<br />
Soft mild cheese, I used mozzarella cheese, but at Pulpo it was made with soft fresh goat cheese - much better, too bad some people who eat my food don't like goat cheese<br />
Dill (I just kept adding till it looked and smelled good, probably a couple of teaspoons)<br />
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Stir it all together and eat it cold. Surprise! Dill and goat cheese are really good with watermelon. Sorry there's no pictures, the leftovers this morning were pretty sad looking, but still delicious.<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-28388592086120829312013-02-16T14:30:00.000-05:002013-02-16T14:30:20.357-05:00Kitchen Science: Defying Gravity!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0NOhBcgzh9LjVlO8d5It8icA5On4SrE0qNo_b2Nx7RxDihFXbi6sEBGfw4NQud7YD6sqRrM8ZSWxuQMLheZavd9-hz-0NRn1SCZ0CAh8hf_OPz6feWMRPTZkaMB8O1od0Va-krU8TlmE/s1600/IMG_0625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0NOhBcgzh9LjVlO8d5It8icA5On4SrE0qNo_b2Nx7RxDihFXbi6sEBGfw4NQud7YD6sqRrM8ZSWxuQMLheZavd9-hz-0NRn1SCZ0CAh8hf_OPz6feWMRPTZkaMB8O1od0Va-krU8TlmE/s1600/IMG_0625.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The other day I found this amazing thing in the freezer, a stalagmite of ice! I guess it happened because of the way water expands when it freezes, but I don't know why it would make such a distinct formation like this. Any ideas?<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-18328992961751979432013-02-14T18:25:00.002-05:002013-02-14T18:33:08.549-05:00Hazelnut+Chocolate=Love CookiesI bought hazelnuts recently, with the idea that I would make a nut torte recipe that I've been eyeing for years. But instead I made these cookies, which turned out pretty amazingly considering how experimental and not-following-a-recipe they are. In fact, Lovemuffin said at one point, "These are the best cookies I've ever had." So there you go. I started out using <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/haselnussmakronen/detail.aspx" target="_blank">this</a> recipe, but after making a silly mistake and also realizing I didn't have any eggs, I did some math and switched to <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/284841/hazelnut-cookies" target="_blank">this</a> recipe from Martha Stewart, but you can see my final recipe is very different then hers.<br />
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<b>Hazelnut+Chocolate=Love Cookies </b>(makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies)<br />
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2 cubes butter, softened<br />
1 1/4 cups white sugar<br />
pinch salt<br />
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skins removed<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">*</span> and ground<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">**</span> -- if my math is correct this made about 2 1/2 cups of hazelnut flour <br />
1 7/8 cups all purpose flour<br />
1 cup dark chocolate chips<br />
about 1/4 cup milk<br />
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Cream together the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the salt and ground hazelnuts, mix a little, then add the flour and mix more thoroughly, then add the chocolate chips. I chopped up my chocolate chips even smaller in my nifty spice/coffee grinder because I didn't want big chunks, but I didn't want very fine cocoa powder. After mixing all of these things together, your dough shouldn't look like dough at this point, it should be fluffy and crumbly, but not holding together. Add a little of the milk and mix, continue until the dough turns into regular looking dough and holds together, you might need a little more or a little less milk than 1/4 cup.<br />
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At this point you can chill the dough until you need it. In fact, I would recommend chilling it for a few minutes to help the butter harden, since that's the only leavening action these cookies will have, so chilling will help them be fluffy and hopefully they won't spread out like pancakes.<br />
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Scoop out spoonfuls of dough and place on a greased cookie sheet, squish gently with the tines of a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. I cooked mine for longer because they seemed really soft still, but then later when completely cool they were very crunchy, so how long you cook it depends on how crunchy you want your cookies. Remove from pan and let cool. I recommend you eat these dunked in milk or your favorite warm beverage.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">* A word about hazelnuts: getting the skins off and grinding these suckers was the most time consuming, tedious cooking job I have done for a long, long time. Every recipe that gives directions says to just toast the nuts about 6 minutes, then rub off the skins with a kitchen towel, and voila, that's supposed to do it. But I spent way too much time on this part because most of the skins did not want to come off. I toasted the very stubborn-skinned nuts a second time, and it might have helped, but I gave up on trying to get all the skins off of every nut. And the cookies were still great, so no pressure to do a perfect job at that. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">**I ground the nuts in a small smoothie blender thing in batches. It probably helps to have them in a small blender area so they are continually being redirected into the blades, and even then I had to keep shaking the container to try to get it to work better. When a batch of nuts seemed ground up all the way, I would put it through a sieve into a bowl, to catch all the extra large unground pieces, then put those large pieces back into the blender with the next batch.</span><br />
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This is the very first draft of this recipe, and just like all my recipes and pretty much every recipe in the universe (that my be an exaggeration) it is open to modifications, it may be possible to improve it even more. </div>
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Some ideas that I had were: </div>
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-use an egg, beat it with the butter/sugar, and omit the milk</div>
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-add your favorite spices, like cinnamon, cardamom, orange peel, etc. </div>
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-use cocoa powder instead of chocolate chips</div>
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-decrease the amount of butter and label them "healthy," maybe even use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose</div>
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-leave some of the hazelnuts in larger pieces for some extra crunch</div>
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-omit the chocolate chips, and then when the cookies are baked, make them into sandwich cookies with Nutella or chocolate ganache as the filling.</div>
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And if you need to make these ahead of time, you could easily form the balls of dough and then freeze them for later.</div>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-22111121843143051922013-01-28T20:37:00.000-05:002013-01-28T20:37:15.834-05:00Kitchen Science: Delicious!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Even though I poured the honey on top of the oil, it fell to the bottom of the container because honey has more mass than oil; and water would fall exactly in between honey and oil. Amazing! And it makes delicious granola.Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-82957092565054965112013-01-07T14:07:00.001-05:002013-01-07T14:07:10.073-05:00Best Pumpkin PieEllen says it's the best she's had, and pumpkin is her favorite kind of pie. It is based on the recipe on the back of the Libby's can of pumpkin, adjusted for what we had at home and other recipe ideas that we saw around the interwebs and recipe books at home. You can always play with spice amounts and combinations; I usually figure that you can add more spices to almost anything that it calls for in the recipe. I didn't take any pictures, but you can imagine what it looks like because it pretty much looked like any other pumpkin pie.<br />
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<b>Best Pumpkin Pie </b><br />
1 single unbaked pie crust<br />
filling:<br />
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree<br />
1 12 oz can sweetened condensed milk<br />
3 eggs<br />
1/3 cup brown sugar<br />
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon<br />
1 teaspoon ground ginger<br />
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg<br />
1/4 teaspoon cloves<br />
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom<br />
1/4 teaspoon salt<br />
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Preheat oven to 450 F.<br />
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Place crust in a pie pan, fold under the edges and crimp. Keep crust cold in the fridge or freezer until until ready to bake pie<br />
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Mix together all filling ingredients thoroughly.<br />
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Pour filling into pie shell, bake at 450 for 10 minutes, decrease temperature to 350 for an additional 50 minutes, more or less. I could tell it was done but not overdone because the filling still jiggled a little bit, but didn't look at all liquid, it was puffy and developing smallish cracks on the sides next to the crust, and the bottom of the crust was a lovely golden brown as well as the exposed edges.<br />
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Let cool completely in the refrigerator before serving with freshly whipped cream. Store remainders in refrigerator if you have any.<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-70343758771999523662012-12-25T19:05:00.000-05:002012-12-25T19:05:35.772-05:00World's Largest Ham Quesadilla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Honey Baked Ham has directions for serving this ham regular style as well as for making it into individual ham quesadillas, which somehow got confused along the way... Looks delicious! Also, I love brother PJ's New York City platter, which is pretty much not visible under the enormous quesadilla, but trust me, it is awesome.<br />
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One more thing: Merry Christmas!Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-87568412901420924722012-12-11T16:58:00.001-05:002012-12-11T16:58:56.429-05:00Can I pick that?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Do you think they allow Urban Foraging at the Botanic Gardens?<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-28409408560074684102012-11-26T20:13:00.000-05:002012-11-26T20:13:16.412-05:00Thanksgiving Awesomeness 2012If only I was so good at blogging that I could post Thanksgiving appropriate recipes <i>before</i> the holiday arrives. Oh well. Here's a quick review of what we ate for our feast. I will try to post any new or altered recipes soon.<div>
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<a href="http://gooeysomethings.blogspot.com/2011/12/thanksgiving-roasted-vegetables.html" target="_blank">Roasted Vegetables</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/colcannon/" target="_blank">Green Potatoes</a> (with lots of green), Aloe Drink</div>
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Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Avocado, Tomatoes and Pomegranates</div>
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Gherkins, Marinated Mushrooms, Green Olives</div>
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<a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cranberry_sauce/" target="_blank">Cranberry Sauce</a> with orange and spices (so delicious!)</div>
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Cornish Game Hens (for the meat eaters)</div>
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Rutabaga (my first time eating rutabaga, it reminds me of something between a radish and a potato, but in reality it is a cross between a turnip and cabbage)<br />
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Blueberry Coconut Cream Pie (good with yogurt; adapted from <a href="http://virtualgoodyplate.blogspot.com/2011/11/cranberry-cream-pie.html" target="_blank">cranberry cream pie</a>), <a href="http://virtualgoodyplate.blogspot.com/2011/11/derby-pie.html" target="_blank">Pecan and Chocolate Pie</a> (amazing--had to make another one), <a href="http://leitesculinaria.com/59457/recipes-un-pumpkin-pumpkin-pie.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Butternut Squash Pie</a> (not as successful as we were hoping)</div>
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All this food and eating reminds me of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eKbBOOcDQA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">my new favorite song</a>: "My body tells me 'no,' I won't quit, 'cause I want more... I want more!" But since I jump around the room like a crazy, happy, happy, happy person when the song plays, maybe it balances out the caloric intake. </div>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-67623141708459386262012-11-16T07:19:00.002-05:002012-11-16T07:19:11.042-05:00Autumnal MuffinsA few years ago I signed up for newsletters from the National Honey Board, "Honey Feast," because they have recipes. The most recent one had a recipe for pumpkin honey muffins which was perfect to go with the fall colors.<br />
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<a href="http://www.honey.com/recipes/detail/6/honey-pumpkin-muffins">Honey Pumpkin Muffins</a> (from the National Honey Board)</div>
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1 1/2 cup all purpose flour</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder</div>
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1 teaspoon baking soda</div>
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1/4 teaspoon salt</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon</div>
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1/2 teaspoon (or more) ground ginger</div>
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1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg</div>
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1/4 cup softened butter</div>
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3/4 cup honey (I used buckwheat honey because it tastes like molasses)</div>
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1 egg</div>
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1 cup solid pack pumpkin</div>
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1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I used almonds because that's all I had on hand, walnuts would be better)</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 1 regular muffin tin, either grease or paper cups.</div>
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Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside. </div>
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Beat butter with electric mixer, add honey, egg and pumpkin. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/honey mixture, fold in until just blended, stir in walnuts at the last second. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, bake for 25 to 30 minutes (I think mine took only 20 minutes). Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in center of a center muffin, it should come out clean. Remove muffins immediately from pan and let cool on wire rack. Don't wait too long to eat them.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_up-g4x68lFYJANBpmw7EFIjdi66k2m4dNPuRTk-m7s2T8ninnRDIGJr-IlXkiRPGQKZzbH7qoCyexWCBdid7G5DO2oQBtmzfPo8391yK4OruVFnMpX6goPM8urmoqoyaqwk-w3YybE/s1600/IMG_0370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_up-g4x68lFYJANBpmw7EFIjdi66k2m4dNPuRTk-m7s2T8ninnRDIGJr-IlXkiRPGQKZzbH7qoCyexWCBdid7G5DO2oQBtmzfPo8391yK4OruVFnMpX6goPM8urmoqoyaqwk-w3YybE/s1600/IMG_0370.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Columns at the National Arboretum</td></tr>
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Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-50997198980748702652012-10-01T18:41:00.000-04:002012-11-16T07:21:02.409-05:00Caramel ApplesOur first thing made with our apple haul were caramel apples. Lovemuffin did an awesome job making the caramel using <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramel_apples/">this</a> recipe. He halved the recipe and we ended up with 7 apples. The caramel was delightful, and I was surprised that my candy thermometer still works. We stabbed the apples with forks since we didn't have any popsicle sticks, and after dipping them and had a little left over to pour over the tops, just to make it excessive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ8azw09Jezgzw_McW5lhAwgLPHDCfTTlfNSxBkUpX_0iKR-MoKckhD0-VV6EwAv7T1lTjexWpJofhj8wAFrAfxStlP9mZLKbzX-A8MuuYvgvybfcP-p0THT538QwYUYXOjxTzFdVjmAA/s1600/IMG_0329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ8azw09Jezgzw_McW5lhAwgLPHDCfTTlfNSxBkUpX_0iKR-MoKckhD0-VV6EwAv7T1lTjexWpJofhj8wAFrAfxStlP9mZLKbzX-A8MuuYvgvybfcP-p0THT538QwYUYXOjxTzFdVjmAA/s400/IMG_0329.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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One note about the recipe, it says to put the dipped apples on buttered aluminum foil, which is what we did, but the caramel was too sticky and tore apart the aluminum foil when we tried to pull off an apple. Maybe it wasn't buttered enough, but I would suggest just buttering a cookie sheet to put them on instead, that way there's no chance of getting aluminum foil in your mouth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADhsu45bHDer3aPur25Dl54SNw7WikMOF1bv5ht2hycs7tidbOZ4TmpfPTO9LvAJanlhqXlIYPtH30hsSqnj8zstOsAoj8_65WhQWeJZuBugAsay5ZuLK3urpJB8kKt848oiGSlkVaC8/s1600/IMG_0330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADhsu45bHDer3aPur25Dl54SNw7WikMOF1bv5ht2hycs7tidbOZ4TmpfPTO9LvAJanlhqXlIYPtH30hsSqnj8zstOsAoj8_65WhQWeJZuBugAsay5ZuLK3urpJB8kKt848oiGSlkVaC8/s400/IMG_0330.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-89933323773748860182012-09-30T08:01:00.001-04:002012-09-30T08:01:07.076-04:00Pick-your-own Apples and The New PlaceIt's been about a year since I went apple picking with new friends in Arlington, and yesterday I went again with Lovemuffin to <a href="http://www.homestead-farm.net/">Homestead Farm</a> in Maryland. There were a lot of types available, we hauled about 40 pounds away consisting of Pink Lady, Braeburn and Suncrisp apples. I think the Suncrisp are my favorite, and I'm glad we got as many of those as we did; they taste like crunchy bits of sunshine, just like the name says. When we got home, Lovemuffin said something about that <i>I</i> had a lot of apples to take care of, and I informed him that <i>he</i> might have a job with the apple spiraler (corer/peeler/slicer). I'm hoping for pies and apple chips, the applesauce I tried last year was kind of a disaster, so... maybe not this year. It was so nice to get out in the countryside and see the goats (even though they weren't that friendly of goats) and get some super fresh produce. The pick-your-own farm had already-picked vegetables for sale, and we took advantage of that too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBTkVrVKp0Hh9g0kIEuL6b9DmRs_DZ6Lvp9IvKzWSyeHQZeJRh2qhZjOkZGepadYLW6UwhGZkH1mfs6UFjulOn2m5EB_vczV-elSlnS_vNQGcl64dArnlMCnyWgldh8W2VGUOQ9YRhas/s1600/IMG_0313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBTkVrVKp0Hh9g0kIEuL6b9DmRs_DZ6Lvp9IvKzWSyeHQZeJRh2qhZjOkZGepadYLW6UwhGZkH1mfs6UFjulOn2m5EB_vczV-elSlnS_vNQGcl64dArnlMCnyWgldh8W2VGUOQ9YRhas/s400/IMG_0313.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovemuffin with the loot</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUY7pzrTyUN3na4bq5x7GGafa0azciz6w-GHHMhyphenhyphenwj_3F9sE9lRsjiBUUtJQqvkdn0I-LGlVKC-D6X8btFPyZA7bP7dqYgnE0hfP8Tt9sgeN4kpWjBjYfz_mZOvZ0NKmQvS2PpFVWUZhI/s1600/IMG_0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUY7pzrTyUN3na4bq5x7GGafa0azciz6w-GHHMhyphenhyphenwj_3F9sE9lRsjiBUUtJQqvkdn0I-LGlVKC-D6X8btFPyZA7bP7dqYgnE0hfP8Tt9sgeN4kpWjBjYfz_mZOvZ0NKmQvS2PpFVWUZhI/s400/IMG_0315.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">so many pretty vegetables</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOYM14K9Qsm97Wdwgi_3gritpefNPbmp863GqKnb2IUPLpwEenm4kctA-dJAxovbHvi6wg4fHG5-RQTVLnR3egsP_tEg4KfQ2gLEZrNdqXiUyxFw-40zms3f-NmtielFFfv23ZYtTNNc/s1600/IMG_0321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOYM14K9Qsm97Wdwgi_3gritpefNPbmp863GqKnb2IUPLpwEenm4kctA-dJAxovbHvi6wg4fHG5-RQTVLnR3egsP_tEg4KfQ2gLEZrNdqXiUyxFw-40zms3f-NmtielFFfv23ZYtTNNc/s400/IMG_0321.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">check out these enormous pumpkins! </td></tr>
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In other news, we've moved to a new apartment now a little further away from downtown Washington DC. It is much larger than the last one and there is more counter space, cupboard space and storage space, so we're hoping to get some food storage going here. It also has some nice drawers, one of which I am using for spices, some of you were familiar with the spice bucket, and found it annoying. But now with the spice drawer it's so much easier to find the spice you need now!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghek4Lheo7iF1MNYdSnmNb9mibZqeATyUi6C2ZcpVrS0_G08w4YDFEqYvA2rdvPqQghCOuYy1WeW0cXf5HEZLRO_w-b-7A826n8ua5o2vbrP2Trz79wScmwjZDU85G_AZlN53HmTh0m3A/s1600/IMG_0323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghek4Lheo7iF1MNYdSnmNb9mibZqeATyUi6C2ZcpVrS0_G08w4YDFEqYvA2rdvPqQghCOuYy1WeW0cXf5HEZLRO_w-b-7A826n8ua5o2vbrP2Trz79wScmwjZDU85G_AZlN53HmTh0m3A/s400/IMG_0323.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one half of the kitchen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoeRWiAGWSOSfsebXuNd37XvNfpe5tuepE27QBNSKAF_c-5vooLZeluU-vYelb6h6D2T-5FHD-HQePh-OfpSrVVE8YJPM-EpWT7TnKDC6n21Tz2ih1m5-j6yTk1-96Cnskfuw-OQ0NOo/s1600/IMG_0324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoeRWiAGWSOSfsebXuNd37XvNfpe5tuepE27QBNSKAF_c-5vooLZeluU-vYelb6h6D2T-5FHD-HQePh-OfpSrVVE8YJPM-EpWT7TnKDC6n21Tz2ih1m5-j6yTk1-96Cnskfuw-OQ0NOo/s400/IMG_0324.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">other half of the kitchen, note the tomatoes and eggplant fresh from the farm</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzBGAv5_9c4hyphenhyphen-XN4cV2zQdhoN9U2l-qdIq4CYkRUoJecg8kKuwxuDh30v5WJYMN0-ocZKhhF8fnPFB076f8dh11vMIiqzPM6Jflh0mT2Ovkcko4-eB2ml5nxQUCOQnmS1fjJ3u0nv3c/s1600/IMG_0322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzBGAv5_9c4hyphenhyphen-XN4cV2zQdhoN9U2l-qdIq4CYkRUoJecg8kKuwxuDh30v5WJYMN0-ocZKhhF8fnPFB076f8dh11vMIiqzPM6Jflh0mT2Ovkcko4-eB2ml5nxQUCOQnmS1fjJ3u0nv3c/s400/IMG_0322.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spice Drawer!</td></tr>
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-35021445809943549822012-07-14T12:12:00.002-04:002012-07-14T12:12:37.943-04:00Work Waffle PartyI have the best job. At work yesterday we made an amazing pre-lunch treat: Chocolate Cake Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches. You read right. Oh, yes, I love my job. <div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQwk6zaMopugoG51IypvpPWMGqyhWCqCubPF1O9rSKrpLZSgdlXnZsuFu-CUwgtwOZqq4T6D8OWTUXTVCCX4N28W4tyylpKMZ5L5llF67RZ9-kKfgEg4y0Phj9IEXFHa8jncgM-n_VGs/s1600/101_4429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQwk6zaMopugoG51IypvpPWMGqyhWCqCubPF1O9rSKrpLZSgdlXnZsuFu-CUwgtwOZqq4T6D8OWTUXTVCCX4N28W4tyylpKMZ5L5llF67RZ9-kKfgEg4y0Phj9IEXFHa8jncgM-n_VGs/s400/101_4429.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's what you need:</div>
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1 cake mix and the ingredients it calls for</div>
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Ice cream </div>
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Waffle Iron</div>
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We used a devil's food cake mix, which required 3 eggs, oil and water. For the ice cream we had a tub with both vanilla and chocolate so as to give everyone choices.</div>
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Method:</div>
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Prepare your cake mix of choice.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> high-tech measuring cup<br /></td></tr>
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Mix it all together, just like normal cake.</div>
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Cook on a waffle iron, just like normal waffles.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0L7yqVq2SXfAUA0w6hjg6fZeKXstjvHYAf1zT_k7oyEqrQvUJuy40ywu1LXrSxbbgGRW6juUXrKUlQ_EIjfcv9jJuiSgu-bSRM5S9A36IsRNx25KoxHxDscred_iI9PjCl7zyC98lHQ/s1600/101_4416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0L7yqVq2SXfAUA0w6hjg6fZeKXstjvHYAf1zT_k7oyEqrQvUJuy40ywu1LXrSxbbgGRW6juUXrKUlQ_EIjfcv9jJuiSgu-bSRM5S9A36IsRNx25KoxHxDscred_iI9PjCl7zyC98lHQ/s400/101_4416.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">an amazing waffle iron</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIRnWgjXbpk5qdH7U-HUk446SWSO2mn3i7RJ4JBSyIPEubXFnKK7mt7UBRECmcWjG4ZpeOZxm5s0aC2cE1mU5VOaIb1ngGe5IvfMKg8_-UsLotCY9HXVIHerlyHgIuCeGlC-6HWCka7w/s1600/101_4424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIRnWgjXbpk5qdH7U-HUk446SWSO2mn3i7RJ4JBSyIPEubXFnKK7mt7UBRECmcWjG4ZpeOZxm5s0aC2cE1mU5VOaIb1ngGe5IvfMKg8_-UsLotCY9HXVIHerlyHgIuCeGlC-6HWCka7w/s400/101_4424.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">must stick out my tongue to do anything</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhyphenhyphenb18fO_OG-_UewlWvvB5CvYuno0cVFWNTFCc9b5QHbvk7VFDRZwRNHDonyhHKM9ssf3ZsiUlgIRM76yeqrurwWnzUc5vV7flQ5fFN_RKms0t328Kj_22LT-PbjVE9SxDqDJj5Z-J1E/s1600/101_4427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhyphenhyphenb18fO_OG-_UewlWvvB5CvYuno0cVFWNTFCc9b5QHbvk7VFDRZwRNHDonyhHKM9ssf3ZsiUlgIRM76yeqrurwWnzUc5vV7flQ5fFN_RKms0t328Kj_22LT-PbjVE9SxDqDJj5Z-J1E/s400/101_4427.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Construct sandwiches with the ice cream of your choice in the middle, and eat with your hands, not with a fork.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1h3PYLxdnP-WQPn9lkkBYKfO6KHvKWB5n0ilkHf79W_0-sCn6CAf2eOBdfp6QzM5iQeCZFwF_gv1ybOw040mPkO_F6cDgciZP56fjipURes_JQpKu0o1EE2PGpsw2PgA5AcjpCz4JbI/s1600/101_4430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1h3PYLxdnP-WQPn9lkkBYKfO6KHvKWB5n0ilkHf79W_0-sCn6CAf2eOBdfp6QzM5iQeCZFwF_gv1ybOw040mPkO_F6cDgciZP56fjipURes_JQpKu0o1EE2PGpsw2PgA5AcjpCz4JbI/s400/101_4430.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">eating it with a fork was not very successful</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDx8JctWN_UK0gfLrMr6NhU8ZFBUCdroInzw3IHdDOIoSWNHSe5W7IPzrHV8dW0xtYgti_b3QuPS_m7dY-_mfoNyyCkhcpQmM-5GM0aWaIQoDP75s2maCPrJVw7_61asB-Fy0G5fIKb8/s1600/101_4432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDx8JctWN_UK0gfLrMr6NhU8ZFBUCdroInzw3IHdDOIoSWNHSe5W7IPzrHV8dW0xtYgti_b3QuPS_m7dY-_mfoNyyCkhcpQmM-5GM0aWaIQoDP75s2maCPrJVw7_61asB-Fy0G5fIKb8/s400/101_4432.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more effective to use your hands</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9LubBSOQXXEvx5kMRD25SF3n6qv-OfUVoz53XtuMi-CU-DPy2V29yAfdv5nbdXPHQ7nlNPT2odMtDKTu7QWylNIto8KOeY7uI6axgqGKXP56oROsq9Pz7QC8RNzp9DsgibGhD-8njlKc/s1600/101_4435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9LubBSOQXXEvx5kMRD25SF3n6qv-OfUVoz53XtuMi-CU-DPy2V29yAfdv5nbdXPHQ7nlNPT2odMtDKTu7QWylNIto8KOeY7uI6axgqGKXP56oROsq9Pz7QC8RNzp9DsgibGhD-8njlKc/s400/101_4435.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Credit goes to Boss Lady for the whole idea and Heather for the photos, Big Thanks!</div>
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</div>Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-38043191894039489912012-05-23T19:49:00.002-04:002012-05-23T19:49:27.744-04:00Mexican Chocolate Tofu PuddingHere's a great dessert from Mark Bittman: Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding. Here's the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/201mrex.html">recipe</a> and here's the <a href="http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/05/15/dining/1194840179889/mexican-chocolate-tofu-pudding.html">video</a> to go with it. I'm was so surprised at it's deliciousness. I didn't take any pictures, but my pudding looked just like it does in the video. It is thick and rich, sweet and spicy and chocolatey, super easy to make, and so so so good. Seriously, you should try it. And I found a place that sells silken tofu for $0.59, so this might become a frequent dessert for us. And I'll tell you that because of it's richness, it can probably serve closer to 6 people instead of 4. It took me and Lovemuffin several days to get eat our way through a batch.Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-43875147535202356472012-05-19T21:08:00.000-04:002012-05-19T21:08:11.519-04:00Veggie Spring RollsI haven't had a lot of creative juices lately, so I don't have a big story for you, just some pictures to show how easy it is to make your own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_roll">summer rolls</a>, just like a friend showed me, she also has a special dipping sauce for it, I think it is peanut ginger, we just used an all-purpose Korean sauce.<br />
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You'll need some rice paper, I got some at the vietnamese store, the are probably easy to find at regular stores too, here's what to look for:<br />
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You can use whatever you want for filling, I used:<br />
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Carrots<br />
Cucumbers<br />
Daikon radish<br />
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I used about 4 carrots to 1 cucumber to 1/2 daikon radish, and that made a lot of rolls.<br />
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Shred the carrots and radish, and cut the cucumbers into strips. Put some warm water in a bowl, dip rice paper one at a time in the warm water for about 5 seconds, remove, then arrange the fillings on the rice paper, and roll it up like a burrito.<br />
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Easy peasy!<br />
<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1450188601724839061.post-43012772143824711332012-04-07T10:25:00.000-04:002012-04-07T10:25:17.596-04:00Cheese and Blueberry Filled BreadIt's nice to have a long, involved project to work on during <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/04?lang=eng">Conference</a> weekend so that I don't fall asleep listening to the nice talks. So this is what I made last weekend, I've wanted to try a sweet bread recipe and do something exciting with it. It worked pretty well, but I think I need to work on yeasted pastry dough recipe that will give me something more like the danishes from Pavel's in Pacific Grove, but I have no idea what to do differently. But this project was quite successful, so here's what I did.<br />
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<b>Sweet Braided Bread with Cheese and Fruit Filling</b><br />
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SWEET BREAD DOUGH: (based on Cinnamon Bread recipe from "Beard on Bread")<br />
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2 cups milk<br />
1 tbsp yeast<br />
1/3 cup sugar<br />
1 1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, divided<br />
5-6 cups all purpose flour<br />
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Scald the milk by heating it gently until it just starts steaming, or you see bubbles forming on the sides of the pan, set aside and let cool. Mix together yeast, sugar, 3 cups of the flour, salt, and the scalded milk, and 1/4 cup of the butter, softened, cut into smallish pieces. Mix thoroughly, let rest for a few minutes, then add the remaining 2-3 cups of flour. Knead for a couple of minutes, it should be just a tiny bit sticky still. Form the dough into a ball and let raise in a greased bowl until doubled.<br />
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While the dough is rising, prepare the cheese and blueberry fillings. (I used <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/blueberrycreamcheesebraid">these</a> recipe for the fillings, with a couple changes.)<br />
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BLUEBERRY FILLING:<br />
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2 cups blueberries (I used frozen)<br />
1/4 cup sugar<br />
1 Tbsp cornstarch (or even less)<br />
juice of 1 lime, or about 1 Tbsp<br />
zest of 1 lime (optional)<br />
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Combine all these ingredients in a small pan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken, you may not even notice it boiling because there isn't a lot of liquid in there. Set aside and let cool.<br />
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CHEESE FILLING:<br />
8 oz. cream cheese<br />
1-2 Tbsp sugar, to taste<br />
1 tsp lemon flavoring or vanilla, whichever you prefer<br />
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Combine all these ingredients in a small bowl, mix until smooth. Set aside.<br />
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Now back to the dough: Gently press the risen dough into a rectangle, smear half of the remaining butter (about 2 tablespoons) onto 2/3 of the dough, then fold the dough into thirds like a letter, then repeat with the remaining butter, this will layer the butter into the dough. Let rest in the fridge for a few minutes.<br />
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Roll the dough into a large rectangle, cut in half to make 2 rectangles, spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the middle 3rd of the rectangles, half on each piece of dough, then spread the blueberry mixture over the cheese, half on each piece. Cut 1 inch tabs at an angle along the two sides of the rectangles. Alternate folding the tabs over the middle, to make something that looks like a braid. Cover with plastic, let it raise in the fridge until they are risen a bit. They will also do a lot of rising in the oven so they don't need to be huge.<br />
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Brush with an egg wash or milk just before baking. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 30 minutes or a little longer (I lost track of how long the second one was in, and it didn't collapse as much as the first one, which is the cooked one pictured. Let the loaves cool before slicing.<br />
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<br />Pricklypearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757637235066418306noreply@blogger.com3