Sunday, June 06, 2010

latest cooking ventures

Since I haven't posted any of my cooking ventures for a while, I thought it was about time!  So here goes.
First, I made Dark Chocolate Souffle a long, long time ago when my friend, Grace, finished taking her GRE.  I was poking around on the ever insightful & awesome "Cooking for Engineers" website and found the recipe.  It was absolutely, positively the most divine, decadent and delicious dessert.  EVER.  Especially if you love chocolate, which we both do.  I bet if you live at sea level, your souffle will be 2 or 3 times as puffy as mine, too!


Next, I attempted to make wedding cake balls for Eva's bridal shower.  I finally figured out how to get them to look really good at the very end, of course.  I think they're still cute, even if they're not as adorable as Bakerella's.


Strawberry Baked Oatmeal was next up, which I got off someone's blog last year and is a favorite.  I added a hint of cardamom, because I think it tastes delicious in almost anything baked, too.

 
For couch night, I made Julia Child's Boeuf Bourginon.  It truly is the most flavorful beef stew ever.  Something about red wine, spices, sauteed mushrooms, braised pearl onions and a cheery yellow Dutch oven just do it for me!


I also ended up with a ton of strawberries for some reason and decided Strawberry Bread sounded wonderful.  The recipe came from one of my favorite cookbook discoveries, "Simply in Season," which gives wonderful recipes for every season of the year using what produce will be most readily available & fresh at that time.  The companion cookbook is "More with Less" which I discovered while living in East Africa.  Another great, economical cookbook.  Put them both on your Christmas list (or Kwanzaa or Hanukkah if that's your thang)!


We had cake day at work a couple of weeks ago, where we eat cake for lunch (or pudding, cupcakes, cookies, or anything that is "not good for you").  I found Dulce de Leche in a can at Walmart & was in love.  So I decided to make something for cake day with it.  Voila!  Dulce de Leche cupcakes!  They are absolutely delicious & soft.  Unfortunately, I ran out of brown sugar while I was making the cupcakes, so I couldn't make the praline buttercream frosting, but did a vanilla buttercream glaze instead.  Still amazing.


Last, but by no means least, were rhubarb muffins.  Another delightful recipe from "Simply in Season" (you must get this cookbook!!).  They were just the perfect mix of tart & sweet with great, wholesome ingredients.


Now that your mouth is watering, go make something.  Remember: "Kissing don't last, cooking do!"