Bagels

Last Saturday, I was at home during a rainy, cold day, and I didn't want to do homework.  Not the most uncommon situation, but in this case I didn't have any urgent tasks, and so I decided to do something fun.  

I've been planning to make this recipe for a while now, and I finally had the time.  In case the post title didn't clue you in, I made bagels!  Whole-wheat cranberry walnut bagels, to be exact.  I started them off in the early afternoon, then went and worked on researching to vote.  I let the sponge rise for two hours, then added the rest of the ingredients and kneaded.  And kneaded it.  And kneaded it some more.  If I had a bread mixer, it wouldn't have taken so long, but it was still worth it.  After about 1/2 an hour of kneading, I'd finally gotten my dough to the right texture.  I shaped it into little bagel balls and let it rest.  Then I shaped it into mini-bagels (variation from the recipe, yay!), and let it rest again.

I hadn't read through the directions very well, so I was a little bit surprised that I needed to put the dough in the fridge overnight.  It worked, though.

On Sunday afternoon, after church, I came home and pulled a pan of bagels out of the fridge.  I preheated the oven and set a pot of water on to boil.  In the meantime, I mixed some nutella and cream cheese to replace the hazelnut cream cheese called for in the recipe.  Yum.  Then I added baking soda to the boiling water, dropped the bagels in, and turned on the timer.  After a minute, I flipped them.  After another minute, I dropped them back on the pan with some cornmeal underneath.  I learned after the first batch that it's better to grease and cornmeal the pan, rather than using waxed/parchment paper.

I put the bagels in the oven for a few minutes less than the recommended time, because they were about 1/2 the size of those in the recipe.  When I pulled them out, they were fragrant, chewy, and delicious, full of whole-grain, walnut, and cranberry goodness.

When they were warm, I didn't want to put the cream cheese mixture on them, because they were too good alone.  Once they'd cooled, though, it was an amazing addition.  I froze about 1/3 of them, ate or gave away half, and then left the rest out for lunches.

This project was so fun - I had a great time, even though it was kind of a long time.  One funny part?  The next day I had sore ab muscles from leaning over the counter and kneading.

Overall, this project was worth it - much yummier and healthier than store-bought bagels.  I've also started researching other bagel recipes, although I need to use up these ones first!  Have fun!

<3
Eliza

P.S. On Sunday I got together with Melissa and Natalie, from our "compassionate service committee" (aka baking committee) of last year's ward.  We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and banana bread.  It was so much fun!

P.P.S. You can get vital wheat gluten at winco or whole foods in bulk, or you could just buy a box of it at the grocery store :)

Food, part 2

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Um... yum?  These were delish, and although you have to keep a pretty close eye on the stove for the custard, they were fairly quick and easy.  Plus, they're very cute and they smell divine.  I won't write out the recipe, but you can find it here (along with the picture above).


Butternut Squash and Cheese Pie


Picture taken, again, from the original website, here.

Ingredients:
-1 butternut squash (1.5-2 pound)
-Olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
-2/3 cup other cheese (I used Swiss, but you could use gruyere or muenster, if you're feeling rich and fancy)
-1/2 cup goat cheese (I skipped this, and it didn't create a problem)
-1 T fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
-2 eggs
-2 egg yolks
-2/3 cup cream
-Salt and pepper
-One 9-inch pie crust, baked (I had my frozen one from conference weekend, which I pulled out and baked beforehand!)

Directions;
1. Cut and cook butternut squash with a little bit of olive oil.  I used the microwave, as usual.
2. Saute onion in olive oil until it browns.  Combine onion with cheeses and rosemary in a bowl.
3. Food-process eggs, egg yolks, cream, and butternut squash (I used my immersion blender!).  Combine with onion and cheeses.  Add salt and pepper to taste (make sure you use a lot; it really makes a difference.)
4. Pour into baked pie crust and bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until center is set.  Cool and eat.


Pita Bread

This pita bread was quite easy, surprisingly.  I put the dough together in the morning, stuck it in the refrigerator, and then pulled it out and baked it that evening.  It puffed up perfectly, and went perfectly with the next recipe...  Oh, and I used half whole-wheat flour to make it healthier.  Yay!

Ground Beef (or Turkey) Gyros

SO easy.

And delicious.  From here.  Although the pictures are actually from my camera, for once.

Ingredients:

-8 oz. plain yogurt

-1/3 cup chopped seeded cucumber

-2 T finely chopped onions

-1 garlic clove, minced

-1 t sugar

-1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey (you can find this frozen for about $1.50!)

-1 1/2 t oregano

-1 t garlic powder

-1 t onion powder

-1 t salt

-3/4 t pepper

-4 pita breads (use the ones from the recipe above, or buy already-made ones)

-Lettuce, Tomatoes, and sliced onions (red?) for topping

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, combine first five ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate.

2. In a separate bowl, combine meat and seasonings.  Mix well and shape into 4 patties.

3. Cook for 10-12 minutes, turning once.  I used a frying pan on the stove, but you could also broil or grill them.

4. Cut patties into thin slices.  Stuff into pitas with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and yogurt sauce.

These gyros are awesomely amazing.  They even have Houghton family approval behind them.  Whoo!

Good luck cooking!

<3

Eliza

Food, part 1

Things I've made:

Indian-Spiced Popcorn (fabulously yellow, no?)

This popcorn is savory, unlike most popcorn.  It is spicy and delicious, and I've had it (a half-batch) for dinner twice in the past few weeks.

Recipe: 

Pop 1/2 cup of popcorn, however you like (I just cooked it in a pot on the stove)

Melt 1/4 cup of butter with 1t garam masala, 1/4 t turmeric, and 1/4 t cayenne pepper

Drizzle spicy butter over popcorn and add salt as needed (as you pour the butter over it, so it will stick to the popcorn)

Sidenote: Mom, you can buy garam masala in bulk at Whole Foods.  Trust me, it's worth it.  Also, could you please buy some and send me a few teaspoons?  That would make me very happy :)


Roasted Carrots 
-I love boiled carrots, fresh carrots, and steamed carrots.  But this is probably my favorite preparation so far. It's awesome, and you could alter it as desired to give the carrots a different character.
Recipe:
1. Toss some chopped (diagonally, about 1.5-inch long) carrots with olive oil, salt, and plenty of pepper.
2. Put on a baking sheet in a single layer.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until soft and slightly caramelized.
4. Sprinkle with parsley, dill, or any other spice you think would taste good.
5. Devour.
For more detailed instructions, see this recipe.


Roasted Broccoli

This is a picture from the site where I got the original recipe (see this for more detailed instructions/measurements), but it looks quite similar to what I ended up with.  I used the leftover broccoli from the veggie tray at my party (thanks, Stacey!).  I literally could not stop eating it.  Yummy.

Recipe:
1. Preheat the oven to 425.  Cut broccoli into stalks like those shown above.
2. In a small saucepan, heat some olive oil (regular vegetable would probably be fine too, but I didn't want to risk it) and minced garlic on low heat for about five minutes, or until garlic starts to turn golden.
3. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper to the oil/garlic mix and cook for one minute more.  Remove from heat.
4. In a large bowl, combine broccoli and oil.  Add some lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat broccoli with a thin layer of oil.  I realized that I didn't have quite enough oil, so I sprayed some Pam on it.
5 Spread broccoli in a single layer on a pan and place in oven.  After 10 minutes, it should be slightly caramelized (read: browned) on the bottom.  Remove.
6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese (I used the bottled kind, but fresh would be delicious too).
7. EAT!


I have tons more recipes, but I don't really want to put them all on one post.  So I will put more of my favorites from the last few weeks up soon!  Love you all lots.

<3
Eliza


P.S. Grandma: it worked!  I can see your comment, as long as you post it while you're in gmail.  It's great to hear from you, and thanks again for sending my winter stuff up!

Birthday parties!

I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I finally have the party post!  On my actual birthday, Heidi had a brownies and ice cream party for our basketball team.  It was great, and we had a wonderful time.  The other two parties were put on by my roommates (who are fantastic, by the way!)

On the eighth, Kristin made these cupcakes:

Remember when I posted about wanting to make these?  Well, Kristin saw that post and made them for me!  Aren't they precious?  The crown toothpicks and Disney Princess cupcake wrappers were in the package from home :)

Megan was the chief cherry-putter-onner of the operations.

Sadly, I don't have any good pictures of Stacey or Kristin at this party; however, we had a marvelous time.  

The other party was last Saturday.  There were cupcakes, balloons, games, a veggie platter, chips, party poppers, streamers, good friends from last year, and a happy birthday sign.  

The spread - is that cute or what?  Megan arranged it and put the streamers (pictured below; they're still there!) up.

Yellow cupcakes with chocolate shavings... yum.

Balloons!!

Kristin and I before the party.

They made me wear a huge birthday hat, which I would have minded more if they hadn't put on this fabulous birthday party :)

This picture of Stacey expresses perfectly how the parties made me feel.  They were awesome.

<3

Eliza

All right, already

I know I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a CRAZY week.  I've had tests, papers, and a lot of reading and homework.  Also, the first midterm for PlSc 170 was this week, so I've been a grading maniac.  I still have to talk about birthday parties, pictures, running, food, water polo (!), and the lost and found sale.  But it's late, so here's the most exciting news from this week:

Kristin got her mission call.....

to Kyiv, UKRAINE!!!

I am very sad that she's going to leave me, but I'm very excited for her.  It's going to be so awesome!  A guy from our ward who went on his mission to Ukraine came over to talk to her, and he mentioned that he really misses Ukrainian food.  When he gave a list of a few Ukrainian foods, he mentioned borscht.  I told him I would make borscht and invite him over, because it's my favorite.  So Mom, would you please email me the recipe?  Pretty please?  Kristin hates beets, but I'm sure we can convert her with this recipe.

<3
Eliza

Picture update - day 6,930

My drying rack.  I sure am pushy, huh?  And I may or may not have saved my laundry for today, in hope (anticipation?) that the large bulky amazon package was a drying rack... Thanks Mom and Dad for being gracious about taking a hint!

I am SOOO excited about my new immersion blender.   Soups and smoothies, here I come!

These are the kind of bread pans that I will pass on to my grandchildren when I die.  I love them.  Plus, handy dandy visiting teaching (and any other) gift!  

This is me being silly with the awesome headband/ear warmer that Tess made for me.  I was going to put it on like it's supposed to be worn, but I had a bunch of bobby pins in my hair, so it would have gotten stuck.  Thus, the ultimately fashionable birthday crown thing is goin' on.  Tess made this over conference weekend - she has some mad skill!  It also has an ingenious adjustment thing in the back, which allows me to change its size according to my hairdo - even a ponytail!  Marta also crocheted something amazing for me.  It is a beautiful variegated blue hot pad.  The picture for it didn't turn out (weird lighting, sad), but I will show it soon.  And also, I loved Marta's note.  This hot pad has words of the prophet in it!

I'm not quite sure why this spoon has a hole in the middle, but I like it.  It allows for a great photo-op, too!

Doesn't my family know me well?  They also sent me some exciting things like voter registration forms, dried tomatoes, peach-raspberry jam (which looked so delicious I could barely stand to leave it closed until I have something to eat it with), chocolate, and craisins.  And, since my family couldn't be here to take pictures with me, I decided to post some of my favorite pictures of them:

I love you guys lots!  Thank you so much for all the love.  You are awesome!  

<3

Eliza

P.S. Parties yet to come.  I will write about them as they occur.

P.P.S. Special thanks to mom.  Without all of her labor, I wouldn't be here (sorry; I had to include a child-bearing pun somewhere, didn't I? ;)

Mmmm...

A quick foreword: on Conference weekends, I like to cook.  A lot.  So this is a collection of all the things I cooked this weekend, after my uber-successful trip to Winco.  I forgot to get a picture of it, but in addition to all this stuff, I made kugen (yum!) on Sunday morning.  All of my roommates were gone except for Kristin, so I ate most of it by myself.  I have no regrets.

Not pictured: Tapioca pudding, Saturday morning.

Pectin.  Not liquid pectin like it was supposed to be, but I made do.

This was the jalapeno I chopped up to put in my pepper cheddar biscuits.  They're frozen unbaked in the freezer for the next time I have chili :)

Jalapeno jelly!!  I made four jars of that size.  Three are frozen.  This jelly is delicious.  I eat it on crackers daily, and if I ever start eating meat again I will put it on that, too.

Batter for buttermilk pie (see below...:)

My pie crust-making station.  I made two pie crusts and froze one.

Then I decided that since I already had the floury tabletop I would make some cheddar-pepper biscuits and a galette dough to freeze too.  I am such a Mormon.

I read about chocolate-dipped mangoes with curry powder on them.  So of course I made some.  Pretty delicious.  I enjoyed trying them.

Some of my peppers from the farmer's market.  These are the ones left over after my jelly-making jamboree.  I think I'll make some more jelly with them (red jelly!), but I'm contemplating freezing them until some of my little jars are clean so I have some place to put it all...

The fruit section of my pantry collection.  As you can see, autumn is slowly sneaking in, but summer is still hanging on!

This is a little blurry, but I'm super-excited to have my own turmeric.  I'm pretty sure that's the sign of really being an adult.

Yummy yummy black bean soup.  You can find the recipe here, and make sure you add a few splashes of hot sauce!

My buttermilk pie.  Isn't it scrumptious?  I made it on Saturday, and was going to have people over on Sunday to eat it.  Long story short, I didn't. 

Instead, I had it for dinner on Monday.  With boysenberry syrup, no less!  It was delish. 

As you can tell,

I liked it a bit.  I also had it for dinner tonight :P

Well, I don't really have time to write anymore right now, as I have LOTS of studying to do and I'm holding my first review session in 50 minutes.  Wish me luck!

<3
Eliza