Oreos. One of the few "western"-style foods we can actually buy here. Nonetheless, on a home-alone evening when I most certainly did not feel like going out, I decided to have some Oreos waiting for precious Austin upon his arrival home. Here's how it happened:
-3 cups of flour (throw in some whole wheat so you feel better)-1 1/3 cup of sugar-1/2 cup cocoa powder-2 teaspoons baking soda-2 teaspoons salt(The recipe I used from e-how was one of many recipes which calls for a box of chocolate cake mix, so I then had to google that, and the above is the starting base I found at a
simplicity baking site, (Minus a little sugar).
-2 eggs-2 T. oil plus some water (the recipe called for 1/2 cup oil, but that's way more than we ever like to use!Mix it together, roll into small balls, about golf-ball shaped, and place on a cookie sheet.Cook for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees. If you cook for 5 minutes, they might seem a little undercooked... still delicious, but not as oreo-like. Cool for two minutes.
Add some frosting to the middle (If you live overseas, you'll have to make that from scratch too! :) ) Chill and enjoy with your favorite friend!
Last Christmas, we made some candied nuts to give as Christmas treats.
We combined 2 Tablespoons of water, 1/4 cup of white sugar, and 1 1/4 cup of mixed nuts in a saucepan. Just bring it to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and stir it all together until the water evaporates and the sugar begins to harden and brown. Place onto plates to cool. We're experimenting now with less sugar.
I bought some already cooked sweet potatoes from a street vendor and used the inside to make sweet potato casserole. I didn't want to waste the skins with so many vitamins, so I tossed them onto a baking sheet, lightly salted them, and baked them for about 15 minutes at about 375 degrees.
With Auntie Anne living on the other side of the world, soft pretzels are item 986 to be added to the "must make it yourself" list. :)
These are a tasty treat that have made it onto our weekly snack list... sometimes with requests a few times a week-- they're perfect for all of our little friends here who claim to be Chinese but must actually be aliens because they don't like sweet food. :)
An Original Recipe.
Dissolve 1 tablespoon of yeast in one cup of lukewarm milk. Add two beaten eggs, 2.5 cups of white flour, 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and mix. Knead for 5 minutes.
Add extra flour as necessary, especially if the dough is too sticky, then roll the dough into pieces about 1/2 inch in diameter and 14-18 inches long.
Shape into pretzel shapes, or any shapes, really, and brush with a beaten egg. Salt with coarse salt. We've also cooked up some garlic and italian seasoning and added it at times-- this has turned out really well.
Bake at 420 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes until golden brown! Enjoy!!!
With the arrival of my birthday came the arrival of a mini-muffin pan. Love it! (Thanks, family!) I've always loved mini-muffins at school functions, between-service treats, and socials, but this was my first try at making them myself.
I ran off to class in the morning and left a note for Austin, the dearest husband ever. "Austin, if you have time, can you find a mini-muffin recipe online?" He did, and this was the result:
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/2 cup milk
I mixed it together, and filled the mini-muffin cups, then pressed a small piece of chocolate into the center of each muffin and baked them for 12-14 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. These were a big hit with Austin, me, and the students we had over for lunch. It makes lots of mini-muffins...
I accidentally forgot to mark the page where I took this recipe from... (sorry!) It's mostly the same above, but I made it just a little healthier (halved the sugar, removed the oil, made some of the flour whole wheat). The above printed includes my changes.
Fresh. Easy. Delicious.
Cut 4-6 small tomatoes. Lay on a lightly sprayed baking sheet. We sprayed these again with our oil mister and sprinkled 1 1/2 teaspoons of italian seasoning on top.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I cooked these for about 20 minutes until they seemed soft and ready. We ate these plain, but they'd be really good with good bread or crackers.
These tasty things were somewhere between a brownie and cake... Really thick, super delicious. I saw a recipe of sorts for something similar and thought of following it, but I made so many adjustments and changed ingredients so many times, this one can be safely labeled as an inspired original.
Ingredients:
1 c. Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. white flour
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. ground red pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. sugar
5 eggs... I know, SO many!
1 1/4 c. mashed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
2 1/2 T. liquid (I used a combination of water and oil
2 T. cocoa powder
1t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
Mix the first five ingredients together. Beat the eggs and sugar together for about 5 minutes until fluffy.
Add this to the flour mixture.
Divide the batter into two bowls. I made the mistake of an unequal split and got more pumpkin batter than chocolate. The pumpkin part is delicious, but I'd recommend an equal split, or a bit more chocolate than pumpkin.
Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg to one bowl, and the liquid and cocoa powder to the other.
Layer and marble the batters into a 9 x 9 square pan or a 10 inch round pan... don't know if they make those in America. Sprinkle chocolate on top if you want. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes.
First, I feel it is entirely necessary to give a shout out to a country that sells affordable tofu. Shop for tofu at your local Kroger, and you'll be paying at least a few dollars for a ridiculously small cube of it. Take a trip to our local market, however, and you'll cough up the equivalent of about 7 cents for a nice little chunk. And so, friends, our lunch today was brought to us for mere pocket change. And knowing that always makes it taste just a little better.
Ingredients:
3 large squares of tofu (The guy measuring my tofu today was shady; I asked for the equivalent of 3/4 lb. and am not sure how much I got... likely more so I'd pay a little more.)
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 t. tumeric
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
salt to taste
2 bunches of green onions, chopped
Chop the tofu into large chunks. Add it to the chicken broth in the wok. Boil, covered, for 2-3 minutes to allow the flavor to infuse. Drain excess liquid.
Then add the remaining ingredients and stir/scramble for 3-5 minutes. Salt to taste. Add more seasonings to taste. This is great, fast, easy, and healthy too!
An original recipe.
I loved fall days of apple picking because it meant that my Mom's apple bread was not far behind. With a few adjustments of my own to the recipe, and allowances made for slightly different local ingredients, here's what to do.:
Ingredients:
2 T. oil
1/4 c. applesauce + 1T. (or use grated apple)
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 c. chopped apples
3/4 c. white flour
3/4 c. oat flour (may yield a gooier bread) or whole wheat flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
Combine all ingredients and pour into a 9" round pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50-60 minutes, until cooked in the center.
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
Baking is great. No-baking is better. These no-bake cookies turned out pretty well and are a nice summer afternoon snack.
Ingredients:
1 cup crushed Chinese noodles (ramen noodles could work)
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 T. honey
Heat the peanut butter and honey over medium heat until they're smoothly mixed. Pour over the noodles and raisins. Mix. Shape into golf-ball shaped balls or heaps. Refrigerate or "freezerate."
