New Year's Eve

Happy new year, readers! I hope 2015 treats you all well and you are safe tonight (they call New Year's Eve "amateur hour" for a reason). 

For the past two years my husband and I have celebrated this holiday by making a gourmet meal and watching movies together - last year we made pizza and this year we decided to make fondue! 

I decided to make two separate kinds: cheddar beer and jarlsburg and raclette with white wine. 

We've tried both and they're delicious!

Cheddar and Beer fondue: 

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of butter 

1 cup beer (we used Moosehead lager)

4 cups cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon flour 

2-4 tablespoons half and half 

In a small saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in butter until tender. 

Add beer to saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low. 

Toss cheese and flour together in separate bowl; stir into saucepan until melted. 

Add in two tablespoons of half and half and stir to combine.

Transfer to fondue pot (we skipped this step because we don't own a fondue pot - if you're in the same boat just keep on the stove on low and stir occasionally). 

Add additional half and half if fondue thickens. 

Jarlsburg Raclette and White Wine fondue: 

1/2 pound Jarlsburg cheese, shredded

1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon cornstarch 

1 clove garlic, halved 

1 cup (or more) white wine (we used Chardonnay) 

1/8th teaspoon grated nutmeg (fresh is optional) 

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Toss cheese in cornstarch in a separate bowl. 

Rub inside of a medium saucepan with cut sides of garlic and add 1 cup of white wine; bring to a gentle simmer DO NOT LET BOIL. 

Add cheese one handful of a time whisking constantly in a figure-eight motion (did you know this will keep the cheese from clumping in the whisk?!). Wait before cheese is melted before adding more. 

Add nutmeg, salt and pepper and transfer to fondue pot (once again, we don't have one so just keep it on low and stir occasionally if you're in the same boat). 

We are serving this with fresh baguette, pepperoni, sausage and chorizo, roasted red potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, apple slices and crackers. 

Be safe, readers and happy new year! 

 

Cheese and Coffee Cafe

Here comes another restaurant review! I'm back at work and the end of the year is by far our busiest season and as such we are often sacrificing lunch breaks and staying late to tie everything up before year end. 

Today my boss treated us to Cheese and Coffee Cafe. There are two locations in Albuquerque but we carry out from 2679 Louisiana Blvd, Albuquerque NM 87110 due to the proximity to our office. The restaurant itself is small; there are probably only around 10 tables at which to sit at which can get quite crowded during a lunch rush.

This deli serves only Boar's Head brand meats and cheeses and only fresh vegetables are served in salads or on sandwiches. They have everything under the sun as far as sandwiches go, their prices can't be beat, and they have to-go orders ready in about 10 minutes so they're also time-efficient. 

They have daily specials and different soups (their green chile chicken and red chile posole are the best). 

Today I got their salad duo (I didn't want to eat too much) with their Greek salad (feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, homemade dressing and Kalamata olives!) and their red chile posole. Readers, for those of you thinking "what in the world is posole?" (pronounced po-sol-ey) it is a delicious soup made with hominy, cubed pork (or in this case chicken) and red chile. Their duo is served with a whole wheat roll (perfect for soaking up all the wonderful dressing and feta cheese that didn't make its way onto lettuce). 

Another favorite of mine is their Chelsea sandwich: sliced turkey, avocado, green chile and provolone cheese on grilled sourdough (can it get any better?!). 

I have also finally developed a rating scale! I will critique a restaurant based on 5 categories and each category being broken into poor, fair and excellent for a grand total of 15 possible points:  

Decor

Cleanliness

Food taste

Food appearance

Service

In the case of Cheese and Coffee Cafe I will rate as follows: 

Decor: poor. The restaurant is sparsely decorated at all and the chairs are banquet-style high backs. 

Cleanliness: excellent. The staff keep the restaurant in great order! Tables are often turned within a minute of patrons leaving them. 

Food taste: good. The ingredients are fresh and everything is freshly prepared, the reason I would not award an excellent in this category is because it is only a deli. 

Food appearance: good. The food is presented in a way so that it looks appetizing but no real attention is given to appearance. 

Service: excellent. Servers are attentive - they refill drinks before you even realize they were empty, food is served promptly, and to-go orders are prepared in a timely manner! 

Cheese and Coffee Cafe, you have earned yourself an 11/15! 

Green Chile Stew

Well readers, we have arrived safely back in Albuquerque and upon our arrival we (immediately) noticed that Albuquerque was colder than Chicago! Bet you all thought since Albuquerque is a desert it's always hot, huh? Well the chilly weather has inspired me (well my husband through my instructions anyway) to make green chile stew. 

Now readers, green chile...well chile in general actually is to New Mexico what pizza is to Chicago - IT'S EVERYWHERE! Chile can be found on everything from burgers and fries to ice cream and wine.  Green chile stew is a cold weather favorite here because it warms you up inside and out, plus it's a cinch to make. 

Green Chile Stew 

2 jars of green chile sauce (I prefer Cervantes but Monroe's is good, too) 

1 pound ground meat (turkey is our favorite)

3 garlic cloves, minced 

1 yellow onion, chopped 

2 russet potatoes, diced 

6 cups of water 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

1 T olive oil 

1 tsp Mexican oregano 

In a large stockpot, brown the turkey in the oil with the onions and garlic over medium-low heat. Once the meat is browned drain the fat (if necessary) and add in the two jars of chile sauce and water and mix in the seasonings. Adr in the potatoes and simmer for 2 hours on low heat (or if you're really hungry boil over medium-high for an hour; but the longer you let the stew sit the more the flavors will develop).

Now I've tried making this stew with fresh hatch green chiles but ran into two problems: 1) the chile was outrageously hot and 2) the stew didn't thicken up quite as well as it would've had I used the sauce. 

Another change was I tried using ground beef as opposed to turkey and the outcome was very greasy stew and honestly who wants that? 

I like to serve this stew with warmed up tortillas. This is even simpler to do than making the stew! Take tortillas and put them directly on the rack of your 350 degree preheated oven for 5 minutes! 

I hope you all enjoy this New Mexico treat! 

Grady's Grille

Hello everybody! For some reason when I typed that I heard Dr. Nick (you know, from the Simpson's?) voice in my head...anywho today my mother-in-law and I indulged in a day of girly pampering while the men went off shooting. 

Our pampering consisted of beautifully done manicures at Tokyo Nails whose address is 18733 Dixie Hwy, Homewood, Illinois, 60430, seriously readers, these women do great work! We were in and out in 45 minutes even with a wait and the price was great!  We decided to grab some lunch at the nearby Grady's Grille located at 18147 Harwood Avenue, Homewood, Illinois 60430. The restaurant itself is a contemporary casual. It's a place you could go for a girls night out but you don't feel out of place going there at 2 in the afternoon on a Saturday in jeans. 

After being seated, the server came around with a tray of their daily specials. Today's selection was a Greek flatbread, shrimp salad and chicken caprese panini. I liked that the restaurant actually brought around plates of their specials because you actually could see what they would look like when they were served to you. 

Their specialty cocktail list is long and even includes a list of daily specials (Saturday's was $6 Long Island iced teas). After being stuck between two different martinis I decided to ask the server what she would recommend and I'm very glad I took her advice! She recommended the cucumber martini and it was so crisp and refreshing! It kinda made me feel like I was drinking the fancy "spa" water. 

The entree menu consisted of gourmet burgers, fresh salads, sandwiches, paninis and tacos. I decided on the 1/2 sandwich and soup combo with the spinach artichoke chicken panini and a cup of the chicken tortilla soup (to my surprise I also got my choice of a side). The soup had good flavor, the cilantro and lime notes were immediately present but I had a difficult time finding the chicken. Regardless the soup was tasty and that's what really matters, right? The panini was grilled to perfection! Crisp and crunchy bread while the filling was warm and melty. My only disappointment with this panini was there were no chunks of artichoke hearts that I was hoping for. 

For my additional side I ordered the housemade chips. They were light and crisp with a seasoning sprinkled over them. They were, however a little over golden brown and I wished the seasoning had been more evenly distrubuted to all the chips. 

I should really come up with some kind of scale for rating restaurants rather than just saying "they were good" or "I recommend it" but until I develop one I suppose I'll have to just tell you, my loyal readers, that Grady's Grille is definitely worth checking out! 

Chinatown

Happy day-after-Christmas, readers! I hope your day was relaxing and you enjoyed time with your families! 

This afternoon was spent at another of mine and my husband's old haunts in Chicago: Chinatown. Chinatown in Chicago differs from the Chinatowns in cities like New York or LA in the fact that it is not as much a tourist destination as it is a community of Chinese residents. The small community is filled with restaurants, bakeries, grocers, and shops. 

We went to Triple Crown for lunch located at 2217 South Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60616. This restaurant has incredible food and great views of the street below from their second story dining room. The first time my husband, Nate and I went there was 2 years ago. The hostess and servers were not fluent English speakers so this made ordering a little difficult. Nate said we wanted to order an appetizer and then an entree to share which clearly confused our server who handed us off to two more servers who were equally as confused by our request but the food we received was stellar so we decided to go back a year ago with my brother-in-law, Sam and try the dim sum. 

So today we decided to keep the tradition alive and go with Sam to get dim sum. Today we were seated by the window (which would've been more enjoyable had the sun not been blazing in our eyes but it was beautiful anyway); after we were seated we were given a pot of tea and the dim sum cart rolled around. Now dim sum is great because they're just little bites - think tapas but Chinese. The carts wheel around with several different varieties and you can pick off the cart or order from the menu. 

We got the barbecue pork turnovers, barbecue pork pieces and chicken feet. The turnovers were golden brown and the crust was beautifully flaky, the filling was flavorful and tender. The pork pieces were so tender it was like eating butter, the flavor was amazing but don't expect it to taste like anything you've had before because it won't. I most definitely did not try the chicken feet but Sam described them as being cold, "reptilian" and not very meaty so take that as you will. 

We also ordered fried pork dumplings, chive and shrimp dumplings, pork potstickers, steamed barbecue pork buns, liquid custard buns, and sweet cakes. All the buns were delicious and incredible (try them all, trust me). Nate did not explain to me what he ordered prior to ordering it so I had no idea what I was eating at any given moment, this wouldn't even been good to know because of what happened next. I'm eating something that looks like a pale white bun so I begin to pour a mix of soy sauce and saracha over the top of it thinking "it has to be savory, right?" While I'm seasoning up my food Nate asks what I'm doing, clearly I'm thinking "what do you mean what am I doing?! I'm seasoning my bun!" Well I couldn't have anticipated what he told me next...it was a sweet bun! Someone else should try the liquid custard bun and tell me what it tastes like because I can guarantee you that the soy sauce and saracha changed the intended flavor... 

This restaurant is also very affordable; 3 people with all the food we got was only $30!

Since my dessert was ruined by saracha, we went to the Wan She Da Bakery at 2229 South Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60616. Readers have any of you had a sesame ball? No? Well allow me to pique your interest: this ball is fried, rolled in sesame seeds and filled with a delicious red mung bean paste! These pastries are addictive and sweet  oh and did I mention affordable?! The balls are only 70 cents each! Nate decided he wanted to get some other tasty treats for himself so he chose to get a sesame pork cookie (his choice...not mine) and rice cakes. Pictured below are the sesame balls, rice cake and sesame pork cookie. 

I on the other hand decided to get the green tea cake (pictured above)! The cake is moist and airy like a pound cake. The whipped cream frosting is light, fluffy and perfectly sweet without being overly so. 

Readers although Chinatown isn't "touristy" please, please! You truly will "eat like a local", the food will not leave you disappointed and the customer service is friendly and efficient.

Merry Christmas

Well readers, today is Christmas Eve so first and foremost, Merry Christmas to you and yours! May your hearts be light and your evening be full of happiness and love. 

Tonight my husband's family and I will be going to his maternal grandmother's house (the one we made cookies with yesterday) to have dinner and do our gift exchange. 

I wanted to bring something to contribute to dinner that wasn't a sweet because there is always an over-abundance of dessert items. I had to come up with a plan and come up with it quickly! I decided to make cranberry cheese bites to take as an appetizer. I confess that I have never made this before so hopefully it turns out well but I would think the creamy richness of the Brie would pair perfectly with the spiced tartness of the cranberries. 

Now readers, this was sort of a cheat because I basically just had to assemble them but who doesn't love an easy appetizer when they're in a time crunch? 

Cranberry Cheese Bites 

2 packages frozen puff pastry cups 

1/4 pound Brie cheese 

1/4 pound aged white cheddar cheese

1 cup cranberry sauce 

Place a cube of Brie or cheddar in the center of each pastry cup and top with 1/2 t of cranberry sauce. Bake at 350 for 3-5 minutes. 

The recipe I used called only for Brie cheese but I had an open block of aged cheddar on hand so I though why not use that too?! 

The cranberry sauce was also homemade. My husband brought this cranberry sauce to Thanksgiving dinner this year and there was absolutely none left! It's tangy, sweet, citrus-y and has chunks of whole berries in it. 

Cranberry Sauce 

3 C cranberries ( one 12 oz bag) 

1 C sugar 

1 C water 

1/2 t crushed cardamom pods (or you can cheat and use the pre-ground stuff) 

3/4 t ground nutmeg 

1/2 t ground allspice 

Hear sugar and water. Stir until sugar dissolves and water comes to a boil. Add washed cranberries and spices to taste. Cook and stir occasionally until cranberries start to pop. Cool completely before storing in refrigerator. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Merry Christmas, readers. As always, live passionately, love fully and eat too much! 

Flossmoor Station

My husband and I went to his grandmother's house today to bake Christmas cookies with her (is that precious, or what?!) and after spending about 2 hours making dough and testing out cookie presses we decided to break for lunch. 

My husband's grandmother has been going to the Flossmoor Station located at 1035 Sterling Avenue, Flossmoor, Illinois 60422 every day for lunch for years. She has a regular server, sits at a booth in the back and is served iced tea with a separate glass of ice without even ordering it. 

The Flossmoor Station has a revolving tap (with a few staples of course) of their own house brewed craft beers. Now readers, assuming you actually exist, I adore a good craft beer. There is no greater pleasure I have found other than sitting down to a good and hearty meal with a perfectly paired craft beer. Today I ordered the Shadow of the Moon Imperial Stout. The chocolate and licorice notes were very present at the forefront with coffee undertones. It was similar mouthfeel as a Guiness without being quite as heavy. They were running a special 12 Beers of Christmas with 12 different seasonal beers being offered each day. Today's was Raspberry What and it was utterly fantastic! Very festive and fruity but with strong wheat flavor. I was disappointed to find out that I could not purchase a growler-full due to the limited quality. 

Upon walking into the restaurant, the brew equipment can be seen through glass (the brewery even offers tours)! The space has a large back dining room, a private party room, a bar area with a small dining area and a smaller dining room next to the hostess stand. The menu has traditional pub-fare with a couple of their own specialty items. 

I had to get a cup of their beer cheese soup to start. The soup is a mix of cheddar cheese, bacon, vegetables and their own Station Master Wheat Ale and topped with popcorn. This soup is not for the "health conscious" but it sure is good - think of eating molten cheese with bacon mixed in and that's basically what this soup is. Is there any better combo than cheese and bacon? I think not. 

I ordered their "Brew-Ben's" Reuben served with Brew fries. The Reuben was hand's down the best I had ever had! Tender and succulent corned beef, high quality Swiss cheese and, I can't believe I'm saying this but delicious sauerkraut on perfectly grilled marble rye. The Brew fries were double battered and perfectly seasoned. 

If you're ever in the area readers, please check out this Flossmoor landmark!  

Italian Village

I first visited the city of Chicago 2 years ago. My then boyfriend invited me to spend a couple days with him and his family before Christmas. Due to the fact I was dirt poor, I was only able to spend 4 days and 3 nights. To any of you who have visited an entirely foreign city before this is not enough time to do anything! 

We spent a grand total of 1 day in the city that trip so we jam packed it full of Chicago must-do's: we went to the Field Museum and saw Sue, we saw the Bean and the Buckingham Fountain and of course drank Caribou Coffee because the small-city Buerquena in me was fascinated by the fact we don't have one in Albuquerque. 

At the end of our busy day we went to Italian Village. Tonight, almost exactly 2 years later we went there again. 

Italian Village is located at 71 West Monroe St, Chicago, Illinois 60603. 

The building that is Italian Village houses three separate restaurants: The Village on the 3rd floor, The Vivere on the street level, and La Cantina on the first floor. I have never eaten at any other restaurant other than The Village but would like to try the other two someday. 

The Village is at the top of a narrow staircase with a very small (and crowded if more than 5 people are waiting) hostess area but I guarantee you it is worth the wait! 

The menu has everything from pasta and pizza to seafood and steaks and all entrees come with the option of soup or salad. Baskets of bread are served with parmesan cheese and olive oil. My husband and I ordered carpaccio for an appetizer. For those of you who have no idea what carpaccio is, it is a dish prepared with raw beef or fish. Now, before you think "raw?! How is this up to health code?!" Much like ceviche, the meat is cured rather than cooked. The beef was topped with lightly oiled Arugala and capers; I think the dish could've used some acid. Desperately. Even just adding balsamic or red wine vinegar to the Arugala would'vehelped 

My husband ordered fettuccine with lobster while I got risotto with shrimp and mushrooms. My husband's pasta was fantastic - so much so that the server told him 3 separate times! The lobster was sweet and succulent and the sauce was a great compliment without being overpowering. The risotto was cooked perfectly al dente and served with a light cream sauce the mushrooms were perfectly tender yet meaty (the way mushrooms should be) and the shrimp were plump and well-cooked. I loved the dish so much I didn't want it to end and subsequently brought half of it home to eat another day. 

We both got the side salad which was nothing too special - spring mix, carrots and Italian dressing (not even sure it was housemade) but it wasn't bad. 

Then came dessert! Cannoli for him and panna cotta for me. The panna cotta was eggnog flavored. 'It's the season, right? And was set beautifully and topped with whipped cream and I believe nutmeg. The cannoli shell was crisp and the filling was creamy and sweet. 

Italian Village will always hold a special place in my heart because on a cold December 18th day in 2012 my boyfriend who hailed from a subburb of Chicago took me there after showing me around the City. 

Petterino's

Above is a picture of my husband's Steak Diane prepared rare. 

Every year my husband's family goes to dinner in downtown Chicago for Christmas. The past two years I've been fortunate enough to be included; this year we went to Petterino's. 

The restaurant is located in Chicago's theater district 150 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601. 

The walls are lined with caricatures of celebrities including television and movie stars, comedians and politicians. The host was friendly and we were seated immediately. Our server came around immediately with a basket of various breads and to take our drink and appetizer orders. My in-laws ordered sidecars (my father-in-law said it was one of the best he'd recently had) and I got the Windy City Martini (vodka, vermouth and bleu cheese olives). The martini was probably one of the best I'd had. My father-in-law said Petterino's was well known for their mixed drinks. 

For appetizers we ordered steamed muscles, grilled and fried calamari. The grilled calamari were divine - served with giardiniera (if you read my last post you know how much I adore this vinegar-y relish). The fried calamari were crisp and tubes-only, although I prefer the tentacles if they're fried to a crisp. The muscles were good (according to the rest of my family); I must admit that my palate is sensitive to textures and I'm not a fan of the muscles but their flavor was good. 

The entree menu had everything from burgers and sandwiches to seafood and steaks. I was the odd-man-out and ordered parmesan crusted scallops while everyone else ordered steaks. The scallops were tender and served on a bed of sautéed spinanch with the best lemony sauce with capers. 

The steaks I tried were tender and flavorful and the sides we ordered to share were mashed potatoes and asparagus. My mother-in-law raved about the mashed potatoes but to be honest I didn't really think they were l that much better than ones I'd gotten at any other steakhouse. The asparagus however was steamed with slight grill marks and served with just a squeeze of lemon which I think is probably the best way to serve it; you really get to enjoy the vegetable. 

Despite the fact we were all stuffed, dessert and drinks were ordered. My mother-in-law ordered a Brandy Alexander but unfortunately the restaurant didn't not have them on the menu but this didn't stop our server from bringing her an improvised version of the drink which she said was delicious. The food ordered was a tirimisu and an apple crostata. Both were to perfection. 

I was stuffed so I just ordered peppermint tea. I had read on Pinterest that peppermint tea was supposed to alleviate the over-ate bloaty feeling. Could be the placebo effect but I think it really helped! 

Well readers, if you enjoy tasty eats and happen to be seeing a play or just in the area I'd advise you to stop in! They even have a pre-fixe menu to cater to the theater-goers! 

Below is a picture of my fantastic scallops!

Aurelio's Pizzeria

I'm in Chicago so first off, expect many Chicago restaurant reviews to come! 

My husband and I go to Chicago to visit his family at least twice a year and for he and I it has become somewhat of a tradition for Aurelio's pizza to be the first thing we eat when we arrive. 

This chain began in 1959 (according to the website) and currently boasts 40 locations in 6 states! The location we always go to is 18162 Harwood Ave, Homewood, Illinois 60430. 

I have only actually been inside this location once (unfortunately our flights always arrive around 9-10pm) but fortunately for us they deliver! From what I can recall about the single time I was inside the restaurant, it was a large space with almost every table full; it was decorated for Christmas and the entire place smelled delightful (pizza is the best smelling food - hands down). I would like to actually go back to the restaurant eventually.

I was skeptical about Chicago thin crust pizza at first since it's much thicker cousin is more well-known but dare I say Aurelio's thin crust pizza has ruined me for any other pizza there could possibly be!

The pizzas are cut into small pieces (so you can eat 12 slices and rationalize that you only really ate about 3 regular slices). The crust is crisp, cheese is melty and high-quality and the sauce is slightly sweet but full of flavor.

My husband likes the sausage and onion toppings while I like giardiniera and cheese. Giardiniera is a relish of pickled vegetables (not entirely sure which ones other than carrots and the occasional cauliflower) but it's utterly delicious. The relish is vinegary with a slight spice - making it the perfect pizza topping. I also highly recommend the antipasto salad because a salad will make you feel like you've had a more rounded meal after devouring 12 mini slices of pizza. This incredible salad includes ham, pepperoni, cheese, black and green olives, roasted red peppers, pepperochini and a delicious olive oil-based dressing. 

I would recommend my readers (assuming I actually have some) to check out Aurelio's if they live in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida or Vegas. 

Marcello's Chophouse

In addition to testing recipes, I also want to review LOCAL restaurants I visit. 

Today I went to Marcello's Chophouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico for my office's annual Christmas luncheon. 

Marcello's is located at 2201 Q Street #9B in Albuquerque Uptown. 

The atmosphere was classy yet comfortable. There is a large temperature controlled wine cellar in the restaurant that frankly made me disappointed I couldn't partake in the wine. 

Unfortunately, their hostess station is small and crowded which normally wouldn't have bothered me if not for the fact the restaurant had lost our reservation and all 6 of us were waiting in the crampt area for 20 minutes while our room was prepared. When we were eventually seated, the lights in the room were left off which made reading the menus almost possible if not for the open wall of windows. 

Ordering: I decided to get an Ahi Seared Tuna sandwich prepared medium rare. The sandwich was well-worth the 30 minute wait between ordering and being served. The tuna was seared and seasoned to perfection! It was almost an injustice to serve this beautiful inch-thick fillet on a bun (which unfortunately fell apart due to the juicy "vine ripened" tomatoes and some variety of green aioli). The sandwich was served with natural cut fries with sea salt; normally I adore salt but these were a little too much for me. 

When the server came around to explain the desserts I already knew what I wanted : raspberry clafoutis! For those of you who have no idea what this is, allow me to elaborate. A clafoutis is a French cake (the server compared it to a pound cake but it's much eggier in texture) with raspberries baked in and topped with raspberry compote and vanilla bean ice cream. The raspberries in the compote were fresh and the citrus-y flavor was at the forefront of your pallet. To be blunt it was like eating heaven! 

I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone reading this (and I hope there's at least one of you!) and try the wine and let me know how it is! 

Happy eating!

Christmas Party

Tonight I will be hosting my annual family Christmas party for my sorority family and my husband's fraternity. 

I tested some recipes that I wanted to share. The first of which were sugar cookies. The first time I made these the cookies were more like hard-tac than a Christmas treat. The recipe is as follows: 

.625 (1/2 C and 2 T) C unsalted butter

1 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla 

2 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder 

Soften butter and cream 1/2 C with the sugar. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour, salt, baking powder and the remaining 2 T of butter. 

Refrigerate dough for a minimum of 2 hours (who knew this helped the cookies keep their shape when they bake?!)

Roll out dough to desired thickness (I like about 1/8 of an inch thick for softer cookies). Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 10-13 minutes or when you start seeing brown around the edges. 

The second recipe I tried was homemade hot chocolate in the slow cooker. I will confess that I have yet to actually try the hot chocolate yet but before I left the house for work it smelled delicious! 

1 12 oz (or 14 oz if you don't want to measure out 12 ounces) can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup baking cocoa 

1 1/2 tsp vanilla 

7 1/2 cups water 

Pour contents of condensed milk into slow cooker and mix in water and vanilla. Stir in baking cocoa (trying to throughly mix in the cocoa took around 10 minutes to do and the white shirt I was wearing was sacrificed to the cause; guess I learned my lesson about not wearing an apron when I am working with liquids). Then just set the slow cooker to low for 4 hours (or in my case 8 because I work all day) or 2 hours on high. 

The hot chocolate will have a variety of available add-ins; crushed peppermints, original Bailey's Irish Cream, homemade salted caramel sauce and homemade whipped cream (recipes below). 

Salted caramel sauce: 

1 C granulated sugar

1/4 C water

1/4 C salted butter 

2/3 C heavy cream 

In a pot (I used a 2 quart size) heated on high dissolve sugar in water and whisk continuously; and I mean continuously, you cannot stop whisking until the mixture is at a rolling boil. Once the mixture is boiling, DO NOT WHISK, however I swirled the pot every couple minutes. You have to watch it until it reaches an amber color (took about 10 minutes for me). As soon as it's the right color remove it from the heat and immediately whisk in the butter and the cream (be careful because the mixture will bubble vigorously). Once the mixture looks like caramel sauce allow it to cook before storing it in a glass jar. 

I accidentally waited too long to add in the cream and the caramel seized up; if this happens just keep whisking and put the pot over low heat to get it back together. If the sauce is too thin for your liking put it in the fridge to thicken. 

Whipped Cream 

1 C heavy whipping cream 

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

Put your glass mixing bowl in the freezer (I like about 2 hours) this step helps speed up the whipping process. Then mix everything together with a hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment until peaks form. This typically takes me between 5-10 minutes. Once peaks are formed store in fridge. It keeps for about 3-4 days.

I have also made the whipped cream with a shot of Bailey's added in (super tasty). 

Why?

When I was in high school I decided I wanted to be a lawyer because I had read and was inspired by Healter Skelter. When it came time for me to choose a college major the obvious choice was Criminology; I signed up for the classes and began gearing my life toward my future in law.

During my second semester of college I quit the part-time job I had at a fast-food joint and stumbled upon (literally, I had no idea I would get the job due to the fact I had no experience) a part-time job for an attorney who specializes in Estate Planning and Probate.

I am proud to say that I have worked for this attorney for the past 3 years. However, my path in life has changed. Working at the attorney's office taught me I wasn't passionate about law and what is life about if not passion? I have learned that life is far too short and precious to waste doing just because it will get you money, fame, status, etc.

So what am I passionate about? Cooking. Even from a young age I was addicted to watching Food Network; I can clearly remember watching Emeril Lagasse with my Italian grandfather. This blog is to serve as an account of my passion. I just graduated from college with my degree in Criminology and am elated to say that I will be chasing my dreams and attending culinary school in August 2015.

I will post on here the recipes I try, the food I feed my husband and our friends, and what I'm learning in culinary school. If you take nothing else from my meager postings, remember to do what you're passionate about.