Contemplations and Concoctions - Recipes

Daring Bakers – Nanaimo Bars

holly — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:11:16 +0000

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Vols – au – Vent – Daring Bakers September Challenge

holly — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:12:17 +0000

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Daring Cooks go Indian!

holly — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:50:07 +0000

Mmmmm, I love Indian food. I haven’t had the chance to experience a lot of it as I live in Hill Billy Central (I say that endearingly, I love where I love don’t be sending any hate mail this way!) but what I have been able to experience has be superb. All the spices and different combinations of ingredients just makes my mouth water. My favorite dish has to be Alu Gobi, delicious! Yummy cooked potatoes and roasted cauliflower with spices and whatever else is in there that makes it so yummy. Delish! Don’t forget the Nan bread. I love that stuff and could eat it without anything else. Anyways, back to the challenge at hand.

Crap!!! - Daring Bakers Dobos

holly — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

It really helps when you read the posting date for Daring Baker’s Challenge!!! I am reading challenged and did not notice that it might be do ASAP until people started talking about it on twitter. Oh Twitter, what would I do without you?! So as of ten o’clock this morning I have been on the quest to finish the daring bakers challenge on time. I grabbed both kids and we went to the grocery store to pick up a few items since I hadn’t planned and did not have everything I needed. 10 eggs needed… I had five. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work so off we go.

Thai it! You’ll like it!

holly — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:42:36 +0000

So about two weeks about now I decided I would do a Thai inspired dinner for Riley, Tim and I. I love Thai and we go for it occasionally. Now let me tell you I have a new appreciation for the person in the kitchen at that place because I tried to make salad rolls and what the hell is up with them being so sticky that they are just like balls of goo that you can’t spread out because they are so hot and you are now missing the tips of your fingers from dipping them in the broth.

Just thought I would share that with you. I made salad rolls and Pho one night for dinner. I thought both of them turned out fairly well. I will make the salad rolls again and hopefully remember that the broth doesn’t have to be boiling just below it. The Pho was my first attempt and I did pretty good although I did not make the broth from bones or any of that other stuff I read about. It was really just a bowl of noodles with seared beef, carrots, green onions, bean sprouts, and cilantro (or coriander, depending on what you want to call it). Here are some pictures of it… I think it looks quite pretty.

Daring Bakers – Cookies!

holly — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:47:34 +0000

I’m here, I’m here!!! Don’t forget me!!! Ok, so I really fucked up and missed the deadline by about almost 5 days. Whoops is all I can say. I could tell you my excuses (ranging from my children needing a lot of attention to it’s been way to hot here to cook cookies) but I won’t. I missed the deadline my fellow daring bakers… is there any way you can forgive me? I’ll stop rambling now and save that for another post, on to the cookies!

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Daring Bakers – Bakewell Tart!

holly — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:48:36 +0000

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I’d never made a bakewell tart before. I had heard of it from Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver but never made one or really even thought about making one. I’d have to say though it was a great success! I made it for Father’s day dinner and boy did my Father in-law-love it! He was thrilled with it and even continued to finish it off when he came over to help Tim with the garage fir the next two days! I’d make this again although I think I would try different jams. Nothing wrong with homemade strawberry but just to jazz it up a little I might try marmalade or blueberry just for something different. Great challenge!

Unleashing my inner Asian Momma!

holly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:51:55 +0000

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m jealous of my next door neighbors. No, not the fact they play thumpy music and it drives me insane or that the tree in the front yard is completely dead. I’m jealous of the fact that my very nice next door neighbor's mother comes over to look after their little boy. He’s a year older than Riley and is quite cute. Grandma is there almost everyday to take care of him and when she’s there the smells that come from their house. Oh my, they are wonderful. I wish she would chase me around the yard with some freshly cooked spring rolls just like she does to the laughing and smiling from ear to ear pre-schooler. But alas, she hasn’t and probably won’t… ever. That would just be strange. Anyways you could imagine my glee and excitement when I saw that this month’s daring cooks challenge was dumplings. Dumplings!!! Yippee!!! One of my favorite foods! When I go to Edo I make Tim get the bento box just so I can eat his dumplings with my Udon chicken soup. Yes, I know it’s not real Asian food and that it probably is not

Daring Bakers – Apple Strudel!

holly — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:09:38 +0000

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Daring Bakers & Ricotta Gnocchi

holly — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:17:44 +0000

I’d actually never heard of Ricotta Gnocchi till I saw it on the daring cooks message board. But now that I’m a daring cook I have to be up to try anything, right?! So in the true spirit of being daring I thought I would make the cheese as well. Which I thought was really easy and worked great! It made some of the richest ricotta cheese I’ve ever had. I don’t know if that worked against me though when I was making the Gnocchi. It was so rich I couldn’t eat a lot of it so we had it more as an appetizer before a birthday party rather than for dinner as I had planned. Overall I thought it was nice and would be a great appetizer but definitely not a meal. I made a light tomato sauce to go with it to try and cut the richness.