Wisdom Teeth and Productivity

My sister got her wisdom teeth removed on Friday. This means that she has been on a steady diet of smoothies, mashed potatoes, yogurt and mac n' cheese. She is already sick of the latter "soft" food.

This event is a prelude for my own wisdom teeth extraction procedure that is yet-to-be-scheduled, but planned for sometime between now and mid-September. I am THRILLED... *Sarcasm*

Anyway, the poor thing is doing better. She lucked out and didn't even have swelling. But she cannot wait until she can eat normal food again, like meat and veggies, etc. I have been responsible for making dinner in the last few days and I feel so bad that the rest of my fam is eating marinated chicken or BLTs and she is stuck with her boxed mashed potatotes and a smoothie. Granted it was a chocolate, banana, peanut butter smoothie, which I graciously made for her even though I am semi-allergic to PB and the smell makes me nauseous.

Aside from entertaining my sister while her mouth still hurts, I was pretty productive this weekend! I went to the Puyallup Farmer's Market on Sunday and was super excited to see more variety of veggies--as the weather warms up. My dad purchased some cherries and I bought $10 worth of yummy chevre. Half of it was fresh cheese that is seasoned with dill and garlic and is delicious spread on sandwiches and crackers. I also bought a semi-hard cheese called Mopsy's Best. It was really good and had the light, crisp flavor common to cheese made from sheep's milk. I bought just a small hunk of it and ate the entire think for lunch.

What can I say? I REALLY love cheese. I always say that I would be so sad if I became lactose Intolerant someday...

On Sunday, I went to Mass in the morning and listened to a really sweet story about "The Holy Cookie" aka the bread (body of Christ). I then came home and made scones for the first time. I found a recipe for Lemon Blueberry Scones and thought I would try it. I am so excited to say that it turned out really well!

The scones were light, flakey, bursting with frozen blueberries and had a light flavor of lemon. They were glazed with a simple glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar. I found the recipe online on a blog, http://bakingbites.com/2010/04/lemon-blueberry-scones/.

I love to experiment and try new recipes and find that my tests usually warrent 1 out of every 3 recipes that are actually good and worth keeping. For example, last week I made Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies. In theory, these sounds super delicious. However, my brownies did not look like the picture and weren't very good, even though I made sure to follow the recipe VERY closely. Part of my failure rate stems from my tendency to substitute ingredients and not follow the recipe exactly, so I suppose that I deserve to fail 2 of out 3 times :-)

But my scones were delicious. The recipe only made 8 good-size scones and they were gone by the end of the day. I definitely suggest this recipe if you like lemon and blueberries. My next scone recipe is going to be pumpkin, similar to those sold at Starbucks.

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Baking Bites:

Lemon Blueberry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, chilled
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into 6-8 chunks and add to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until mixture is sandy and butter is well distributed, with no pieces larger than a big pea.
Add in milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until dough comes together. If dough is too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour to the dough.
Either keeping the dough in your mixing bowl, or turning it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 1 minute. Flatten dough and add blueberries. Knead gently for 30-60 seconds to distribute them. Divide dough into two balls and press each into a disc about 3/4-inch thick. Use a knife to divide each disc into quarters and place scones on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 17-22 minutes, until scones are golden brown.

Lemon Glaze (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Whisk glaze ingredients together until smooth, then drizzle over still-warm scones before serving.

***

My productive day continued with me going for a really nice run along the trail down by the Puyallup River and back through downtown. It was so warm and pleasant outside that I could not resist taking an hour out to go for a run.

I love days where I get a lot done and feel that I really made my time worthwhile. Today, I am trying to decide what to cook for dinner (hopefully something that my sister can enjoy as well) and getting ready for a job interview later this afternoon. Wish me luck!

As I close this post, I hope that you all out there in blog-land can have a productive day! It doesn't have to be something like a chore or a to-do list, but rather something that makes you happy, and uses your time well. Better yet, go make some scones.

Going Back in Time: Homemade French Bread

Last year, I had three goals for my cooking/baking skills. I wanted to learn how to:
        1. Make jam/jelly
        2. Can (veggies, fruit, jam, etc)
        3. Make homemade yeast bread...without a breadmaker

And I was happy to report that, by the end of 2010, I was able to attempt all three. I will actually talk about the first two in a future post, later this summer when berries come into season and I can make more jelly. But for now, we will be learning how to bake bread!

First of all, BREATH.

It seems really, really daunting and totally unnecessary because it is super easy to go to the grocery store and buy a loaf for $.99. But...I promise you, homemade is so much better :-)

Why is it better?

For one, it is healthier. Since you are the one making this bread, YOU will know exactly what is in it. There will be no unpronounceable ingredients and everything will be fresh and good for you. Also, it saves money. Chances are, you will have all the necessary ingredients in your pantry, so it might save you money. Lastly, it will be really, really fresh. When it first comes out of the oven, you will want to rip off a hunk and eat it right then and there. I will warn you though...you might not want to do that. Bread needs time to cool, otherwise it will squish down when you try to cut it. But after it is cool, go ahead and take a bite.

When I first decided to attempt bread, I began researching tips and techniques. I read the bread section in my mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook and googled "how-to" guides. Ultimately, I came across a really awesome blog called www.thefrugalgirl.com that is all about frugal living and has really nice recipes and instructions for a variety of recipes. Better than that, it has good bread recipes with...PICTURES!

My favorite recipe from this site is the "Easy French Bread". As stated in the name, it is actually very easy and mostly full-proof. I have never actually had it fail on me and I have made this recipe more than a dozen times in the last few months. Of all the different yeast bread recipes I have made, this one is my favorite.

This is the finished product. Read this rest of this post and I will show you how to get here.










Since this bread it a yeast recipe, it will take a few hours to get to the end result.

The Science of Yeast: According to www.breadworld.com, yeast is a leavening agent attacks the starches in the flour, turning them into carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide expands the gluten proteins in the flour. These proteins cause the dough to expand and rise.

For the purpose of this recipe, you will need 1 packet of yeast. There are several brands of yeast, so just pick one and make sure it is Active Dry Yeast. (see picture below)

(www.kaboodle.com)

















Yeast needs to be re-activated when baking, so you will need warm water. The recipe says to warm the water to 120 degrees. I would suggest using a kitchen thermometer to ensure that it is too cool (the yeast won't work) or not too hot (it will kill the yeast). I usually run the faucet for a few minutes while I am gathering the other ingredients (which unfortunately, I do not have a picture of). Anyway, you will need All-Purpose Flour, table salt, sugar, in addition to the water.

First of all, put 2-cups flour into your bowl. Add 1-packet (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast. Then put 1-teaspoon salt and 1-tablespoon sugar.

(Picture courtesy of www.thefrugalgirl.com)











Next, measure out 1-cup WARM water (remember the faucet should still be running). Use the thermometer to make sure it is between 110-120 degrees F. Add the warm water to the bowl. Using a spoon, mix the dough until it is all combined. It will become very hard to mix as the yeast is activated, but it is important to continue mixing for 2-3 minutes. Add another 1/2-cup flour until the dough is soft and kneadable.

Clear a space on your counter or table and flour it generously. Dump out the dough and add some flour on top of it.










(picture courtesy of www.thefrugalgirl.com)










The next step is VERY important. Remember our little science lesson a few minutes ago? How yeast forms carbon dioxide, which attacks the GLUTEN in the flour? The gluten is what will make your bread rise and be soft and squishy. Kneading is what stretches the gluten. The back and forth motion of kneading pulls and stretches at the gluten proteins and makes them expand. But don't get me wrong, kneading is not that difficult...it just takes a little practice.

First of all, fold the dough in half toward you. Then, using the base of your palm, PUSH the dough away from your body. This motion is what stretches the dough. You will then want to turn the dough a quarter turn and repeat the motion. I promise you, it is a lot easier to do. http://www.jansdough.com/Sourdough_Bread/kneadbreaddough.htm has very nice directions...with pictures!

I will tell you that PICTURES make all the difference in successfully making sooo many recipes :-)

Okay, you will have to knead for 6-8 minutes. Kneading is a really theraputic motion that allows for a lot of time to think. I always say that if you are mad at something or someone, kneading bread is a great way to get that anger out. If you are making this recipe using a standing mixer, you will only have to knead for for 3-5 minutes because the mixer works the dough a little more than you can with the spoon.

Once you have finished the kneading, you should be able to test the dough by making an indentation with two fingers. If the dough springs back after a minute or two, it is ready to be set to rise.

Yeast bread must rise so that the yeast has time to activate. Get a bowl that is at least 2x the size of your ball of dough. Using either spray PAM or olive oil, grease the bowl before placing the dough ball inside.

Cover the bowl with a damp tea-towel and set to rise in a warm place (such as on the top of your stove.) This will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Once is looks like this:

You are ready to move forward. Your dough should have doubled in size. Make an indentation in the dough with two fingers that should NOT spring back.






Next, punch the dough down to let out that carbon dixide

Next, turn the dough out onto the counter and stretch out into a rectangular shape that is about half an inch thick.

Starting from the longer side, roll the dough into a long loaf 

(photo courtesy www.thefrugalgirl.com)

Set on a greased cookie sheet. (photo courtesy www.thefrugalgirl.com)

                                                                                                                                            

 Set aside and allow to rise 35-45 minutes or until doubled in size. The warmth of your house will make a difference in how fast it rises. If it is warmer, it will rise faster, and if it is colder, it will take longer. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Once it is doubled, mix 1 egg white and a teaspoon of water. Using a sharp knife, make three or four scores on the top of the dough. Brush this egg-water mixture on top of your loaf.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before you cut into it :-)

photo courtesy of www.thefrugalgirl.com










This recipe will make 1 loaf, but it is really easy to double or even triple it for a larger number of loaves.

Here is the recipe:

 Easy French Bread

2 1/4-2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg(2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water(120 degrees F)

I hope that you will try this recipe because it is soo easy and it is really rewarding to be able to say that you made the bread, as opposed to purchasing it at the grocery store. Once you master this recipe, I think that you will be wanting to try others.

Lastly, enjoy the fruits of your labor and the tasty results of just a few hours of your time.

Taking Leaps can be Worthwhile - My End-of-the-Year Musings

I never, ever thought I would utter the following words: I am a little sad to leave Bellingham and head home for the summer.

Let me put this into context for you. When I transfered to Western in January of 2010, I was horribly homesick (almost to the point that I could not talk to my parents on the phone for the first month because all I wanted to do was cry). It did get a little better for the remainder of that school year, but I still went home a lot on the weekends (I only live 2.5 hours away from school, so this wasn't tooo bad). Anyway, fast forward to Fall quarter of this year and I still went home too much. I wasn't as homesick and was starting to make new friends, but I still didn't feel entirely comfortable at school. In January, at the start of Winter Quarter, I made a deal with myself: I would limit my weekends home to four (4). I managed to do this (it usually coincided with a long weekend/holiday/family thing/etc) but I still met my goal. For Spring quarter, I did the same and managed to surprise myself when I only actually went home 3 weekends (again, holidays/long weekend).

My point is that once I hated school (or rather, I hated the time not spent in the classroom) and now, I don't want to leave...sort of. The reason for this? I have finally found a place where I belong. As corny as this sounds, its true. I don't make friends easily and I have finally found a group of people with whom I share common interests and feel as though I truly belong.
This group of wonderful people is all centered around the Newman Catholic Campus Ministries. This is where I have become more involved in my church, get to do lots of fun activities AND get to hang out with some super cool people! Sounds like a triple win to me :-)
So, as I look back on the last quarter, I realize how much I have come to think of WWU as a home-away-from home. Don't get me wrong, I will never completely think of Bham as home, but I have a sort of friendly relationship with the city, the school and the people here.

Part of this realization has come in the last two weeks where I have spent sooo much fun time with Newman people. Everything from a luau, Phu, impromptu bicycle/skate board/roller blade/scooter adventure,  a BBQ at the park, last Mass of the year, a Taco Truck for Hungry Hippos (fellowship and dinner after mass), Viking Commons Takeover, lunch at a Chinese Buffet, two basketball games...and my personal favorite: an end of the year tradition that involved jumping off a boardwalk into the SUPER cold Bellingham Bay.

As I look back over the past year, I feel that I have taken quite a few leaps--both literally and figuratively. I was living on campus even though most of my friends were not. This put me with a random roommate assignment--which turned out to be so awesome that we are living together next year--and I had to find new friends to get me though the year. I applied to--and was rejected from--Woodring (the school of education). In the end, I truly feel as though my leaps were successful...including the more literal leap I took this past Tuesday.

My lovely roommate, Jessica and I at a Valentine's day dance this past winter.

Friends at the Luau!






As I mentioned earlier, there is a fairly new End-of-the-Year tradition that involves jumping into the bay. I knew about this event last week, which meant that I had a week so mentally prepare and talk myself out of/into taking that particular leap. By Monday night, I had convinced myself that I was going to do it. Then I woke up on Tuesday to gray, beating rain and my first thought was "No way am I jumping into the bay in this weather!" God must have heard my thoughts because it was dry and sort of sunny by 3pm that afternoon.

By the time we got to Boulevard Park that night, I was still planning to jump. My friend, April had been adamant for the previous days about NOT jumping and then decided an hour before that she was going to do it. So you can picture this, in order to jump, you must first climb over the ledge and carefully situate yourself so that you are perched on the end of the boardwalk. Then...you jump.
"Easier said, that done," was first first thought as I watched the first few people take the plunge. Then I decided that the longer I watched the more I would freak myself out, so I just needed to take that leap.
Sooo...guess what? I did it!! And I have pictures to prove it. When I first mentioned it to my mom days before, she did not believe that I was considering it, let along planning to do it. I freaked out a little bit on those few seconds when you are plunged into the water and must swim up to the top. But once I could breathe and swim to the dock, I was okay and a little shocked over what I had just done.
In the end, I decided that for as scary and daunting it was, it was so much fun and SO worth it. See the pictures below...

 My friend April and I before jumping

Me mid-jump. I did it! Totally suprised myself :-)

That pretty much sums of my last, amazing week of college for the 2011-12 school year. Now I am a Senior and no where close to graduation :-) I feel as though I took a lot of leaps this year, but I KNOW that they were all worthwhile and definitely made a difference in my life. Now, I can only enjoy the summer and look forward to wonderful new adventures in the fall.

I know that this post isn't profound or informative in the least. I am sorry for that, but I felt that my wonderful school year should be documented somewhere. And I wanted to show the literal leap I did, because leaps like that are usually uncharacteristic for me.
I think that the moral of my story should be that taking leaps once in a while--be they figuratively or literally--are important and can be good for our well-being.

I leave you with a quote that applies to me in some ways:

"The healthy being craves an occasional wildness, a jolt from normality, a sharpening of the edge of appetite, his own little festival of the Saturnalia, a brief excursion from his way of life." 
                   ~Robert MacIver

A Cookie of Many Names

I was home for Memorial Day this past weekend (and by home, I mean my family's home), and I did a lot of cooking/baking. I am a nerd when it comes to cooking, so when  I am at school and wanting to procrastinate (after FaceBook has gotten boring), I spend my time on websites such as www.allrecipes.com and www.foodnetwork.com. I am always finding new recipes so that when I am home, I have something to try out on my family. Also,I recently decided that I don't necessarily like to eat everything that I cook/bake--I just like to make it. This fact annoys my mom who says that I am in the kitchen waaayyy too much.

That fact aside, I am going to share with you one of my newfound favorite recipes that is just slightly unusual. By unusual, I mean that this recipe is for chocolate cookies that have no EGG. This recipe came from my friend Grace who has siblings with multiple allergies. The best thing about these cookies, though, is that they are really good. Also, if you are like me and you like to eat the cookie dough before you bake it, you won't have to worry about that silly thing your mom or grandma probably told you about raw cookie dough having worms because of the raw eggs (which it doesn't).

The title of this post comes from the fact that this recipe doesn't really have a name. I call it "Grace's Cookies" because the recipe was given to me by my friend...Grace. My sister thinks that these wonderfully soft and chewy cookies are similar to brownies, so she calls them "Brownie Cookies." My mother, on the other hand, has a similar recipe in which the unbaked cookie dough ball is rolled in powdered sugar before baking and is given the moniker "Chocolate Crinkles."

Regardless of their name, these cookies are so delicious and very easy to make. Are you ready for the recipe? I hope so...

First of all, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Here is a picture of the ingredients (minus the flour and sugar, which are purchased in bulk at my house and stored in containers that are too large to sit on the counter






Step 1 - Cream 3/4 cup margarine and 2 cups white sugar in a bowl. Set aside.

Step 2 - In a separate bowl, mix 3 tablespoons water, 3 tablespoons oil and 2 teaspoons Baking Powder.  This mixture acts as the "egg" for the cookies.

The mixture will start to bubble and fizz. This is some sort of chemical reaction of which I cannot explain as I am an English major. Moving on...









Step 4 - Add the "egg" mixture to your creamed butter and sugar. At this point, mix in 2 Teaspoons vanilla, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 cups all-purpose flour.

The mixture will look as though it doesn't have enough liquid as you combine everything together. It should be okay, but I have sometimes added a few teaspoons of water just to make sure everything is combined and that it isn't too dry. This is completely your choice whether you want to add water. I usually go by the look of the dough.

All the ingredients have been added and combined together (This is where I might eat a little bit of dough) :-) 

Anyway...







Now you are ready to distribute your dough balls on to an ungreased cookie sheet. I use an airbake cookie sheet, but you can use any kind. I also use a handy little tool that scoops up the dough so that it is perfectly rounded and every cookie is equal in size. Again, if you don't have such a tool, two spoons work as well.

I would space the cookies out just a little bit on the cookie sheet.They don't usually spread much while baking, but putting space between the cookies allows for airflow and even heat distribution. Also, make sure you flatten your cookies slightly so that they aren't completely round. Basically, your pan should look something like this...

Now they are ready to go into the oven (remember, 350 degrees) for 10-14 minutes. The baking time will vary depending on your oven, but it is VERY important that you don't overbake them.

When the time is up, the cookies will look soft and undercooked. This is GOOD. They will continue to cook on the cookie sheet and will harden up as they cool. Let them rest for a few minutes so that they don't fall apart when you take them off the cookie sheet.

But once you put them on the cooling rack, it is up to you as to how long you want them to cool. These cookies are delicious fresh out of the oven AND long after they've cooled.

I believe that one batch yields 25-30 cookies, depending on how big or small you make them.

I hope that you will try this recipe and wow your friends with this new kind of cookie. The great thing about these cookies is they are very difficult to mess up. So, go out and bake them AND then come up with your own name for these delectable little treats.

Here is the recipe in its totality:

3/4 cups margarine
2 cups sugar
3 Tbs. oil, 3 Tbs. water, and 2 tsp baking powder mixed together separately ---this is a substitute for egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour.

Beat the margarine and sugar before adding the “egg” mix and the vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and salt, and then add the cocoa powder and flour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. The cookies may not look done when they come out, but will harden as they cool.

From me to you on this lovely Memorial Day 2011...Enjoy!

The Art of Re-Invention

In the weeks since my first post, I decided that instead of focusing solely on cooking I am going to broaden my topic. This means that my blog will be a glimpse into the life of me--a sort-of triple major college student who tries to have varied interests. I will however be posting a lot of recipes and cooking tips, because cooking is one of my favorite interests and past times.

So, follow my journey as I move slowly through college and look to the future!

Welcome!

This is the inauguration of my college cooking blog. I know that there are so many blogs out in cyberspace, so you are probably wondering why mine is any different. Short answer: it's really not. Long answer: it is my answer to my search for a foodie blog written by a college student. I love to cook and as an English major, I love to write, so blogging might be the perfect answer.

I don't have a timeline for my posts. I can't guarentee that I will post often. I am currently nearing the end of Spring quarter, so I hope to have plenty of time over the summer (amidst a summer job, I hope) to cook and bake.

So stay with me and I hope to introduce you to some yummy recipes that all your friends will be requesting!