Short Reflection on My Blog

So I have had this blog for awhile now, and it has been one hell of a ride. I’ve had to find new recipes and bake something new every week. Although it sounds like a lot of work, it’s been great. I’ve wanted to start a cooking blog for about a year now and just never had the motivation. Baking every week has been relaxing, exciting and fun. I’m so excited I’ve been able to share this blog with people I care about. Overall I have loved blogging, and I hope ton continue this blog for years and years.

My mom's chocolate chip cookies (no recipe)

This post has no recipe, but is instead dedicated to my mom who taught me to love cooking.

My mom made chocolate chip cookies a lot when I was younger. I remember it being like magic. She'd pour seemingly random ingredients into a bowl, and mix them up to create deliciousness. She'd pour the marvelous dough into a sheet pan and bake AMAZING cookie bars. As a kid, all I cared about was licking the bowl at the end. That was the best part of baking, (and a habit I still have to this day.) She'd always let me, and usually leave me a little glob of chocolate chip. Then in pour wave of warmth the large oven door would open and out came decadent chocolate chip cookie bars. Their scent would waif about the house for hours. When they finally cooled enough for me to eat I'd be ecstatic. It would make my day.

When I was twelve or so, I learned how to make my own chocolate chip cookies. I made them as often as I was allowed. They never came out as good as hers though. My mom never used a fancy recipe or special method. She just did whatever the back of the package of chocolate chips told her to. Somehow it never worked for me like it worked for her.

Something about creaming butter as always been like Zen to me. Mixing got easier with age, as did my cookies. My friends have tasted many of my chocolate chip cookies; it's one of my baking staples. But the smell of chocolate chip cookies always reminds me of my mom.

I searched on the internet for the perfect recipe. I've tried every variation I could find. I tried buying better ingredients, and following the instructions perfectly, but nothing ever compared to her cookies. I don't know if it's just her experience or her love, but whatever it is my mom's chocolate chip cookies will always have a special place in my heart.

General Bee’s Chicken

OMG a recipe for real people food! Occasionally I actually eat things that aren't classified as desserts. This is one of those things.

The first time I went to P.F. Chang's was with my family. We were in Vegas for my mom and step-dad's wedding. I remember ordering something god awful (I have a real knack for picking the crappiest thing on a menu and ordering it.) Out of love and pity my step-dad gave me some of his General Chang's spicy shrimp. I was cautious because I wasn't too fond of spicy things. I cut a small piece off one of the shrimp and ate it.

I fell in love. That night changed my life. I became more adventurous with the food I ate, and I learned that spicy wasn't a bad thing.

This recipe can be used with shrimp, chicken and maybe pork (never tried it). I'm going to use chicken because I'm a poor college student. This recipe has two parts, chicken and sauce. The best side dish for this recipe is rice.

Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1” chunks)
3 green onions (sliced)
3 eggs (beaten)
½ cup cornstarch
oil (for frying)

Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Step 1: Chicken. In a medium mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly. The easiest way to do this is to mix the eggs, stir in the corn starch, and then add the chicken. If your cooking less chicken half the recipe. For healthy alternatives, skip this step.

Step 2: Sauce. In a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside. I often double the recipe because this sauce is the bomb! For healthy alternatives, replace sugar with artificial sweetener, use light soy sauce and substitute cornstarch for whole wheat flour.

Step 3: Chicken. Grab a regular-sized skillet and fill it with oil about 1/2 inch deep. Deep frying is easier, but I can't bring myself to waste all that oil. Fry chicken bits in batches. The easiest way to do this is holding the bowl close to the skillet, and slowly scooping chicken out. Spread the chicken out evenly so there are no over lapping pieces.
WARNING: OIL SUCKS! Wear gloves when doing this and be super careful. I totally burned the hell out of my hand, and it totally sucked. Don't be a hero, play it safe and wear gloves. For healthy alternatives, cook chicken bits in a skillet with 1-2cup(s) chicken broth or water.

Step 4: Chicken. Drain on paper towels. I use about 2-3. For healthy alternatives, skip this step.

Step 5: Sauce. Heat sauce mixture in a skillet pan and cook over medium heat. Stir the mixture regularly until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly. It will smell so freakin good.

Step 6: Plate chicken and spoon desired amount of sauce over chicken. Garnish with green onions, and serve with rice.
My friends went gaga over this. It's really the bee's knees! (haha!) Seriously though, I could live off of this stuff. It reheats great and the healthy recipe reheats the best in a microwave. When I had back to back classes and couldn't sit down and eat, I'd microwave this and eat while walking between classes.

General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1” chunks)
3 green onions (sliced)
3 eggs (beaten)
½ cup cornstarch
oil (for frying)

Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly.

Step 2: To make the sauce- in a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.

Step 3: Grab a regular-sized skillet and fill it with oil about 1/2 inch deep. Fry chicken bits in batches. Drain on paper towels.

Step 5: Heat sauce mixture in a skillet pan and cook over medium heat. Stir the mixture regularly until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly.
Step 6: Plate chicken and spoon desired amount of sauce over chicken. Garnish with green onions, and serve with rice.
(Makes about 2 servings)

Oreo Fudge Brownies Rock!

I felt like Oreos, and brownies, and gooey-goodness. These were simply splendid. I used store brand Oreos which were softer than Oreo brand Oreos. I will comment more on the recipe tomorrow. (My friend's birthday party was tonight and I helped set up, and clean up.) Pretty much these are best served warm over cold ice-cream. They will rock your socks off.

Cookies ‘N Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies

1 box Brownie Mix
eggs & oil (as called for by the brownie mix)
1 heaping half cup (6 oz) Cookies & Cream (or chocolate, or vanilla) ice cream
1/4 Cup hot fudge topping (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven & spray an 8×8 (or 8x11)P baking dish generously with cooking spray. Combine brownie mix, eggs, and oil as directed on the back of the box, but do not add the water. Add ice cream and hot fudge to the brownie batter and stir to combine. Pour half of the brownie batter into the baking dish, layer with Oreos, then top with remaining batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes or as directed on the back of the box.

Peaches and hate

Oh how I despise peaches, the smell, the taste, the texture, the sound, the look, everything. I HATE PEACHES. However a good friend of mine loves the damn things and I wanted to do something special for her. So today's recipe is a peach- blueberry crumble. I also happen to dislike blueberries, so I did not taste a bite of this crumble. Apparently it came out really good because almost everyone had seconds.

Also my camera was being a jerk during the peachy death march of hate, so I have no pictures.

Peach and Blueberry Crumbles

Ingredients
For the fruit:

* 2 pounds firm, ripe peaches (6 to 8 peaches)
* 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup fresh blueberries (1/2 pint)

For the crumble:

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until their skins peel off easily. Place them immediately in cold water. Peel the peaches, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl. Peeling peaches is kind of like scrubbing a floor with a toothbrush. Horrible. I spent FOREVER trying to figure out how to peel the damn things, and finally just kind of burrowed butter knife into them and cut hacked the skins off. It sucked. My hands were sticky and gross.

Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. This part was easy. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.

For the topping, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the butter is finely mixed in.

Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups or some sort of big pan. I used three ramicans and a glass pie pan.

Sprinkle butter mixture evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins or whatever on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature. Apparently it is great over vanilla ice cream.

If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner.

Double Post, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Since Thingamajigs are hard to find, I decided to try to make some of my own. Sometimes I'm just cooking brilliant. Luckily for you this is one of those times.

This is probably the best desserts I've made in a very, very long time, and you don't even have to bake it! I must have great will power because there is still over half a pan of these. I altered the recipe a bit, and by altered I mean improved.

Ingredients



I bought graham crackers, and crushed them instead of buying crumbs (I don'teven know if they sell crumbs by themselves.



I removed them from their package and put them in a gallon sized bag. Be sure to leave the bag "open." You want the bag to be able to "breathe" to prevent rips. Simply fold the top over and grab a hammer or smooth meat mallet. Proceed to crush the graham crackers until they look like the above picture. There is a video of me doing this above the picture.



In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. It will look and smell AMAZING!



Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.




Sprinkle Coco Krispies over peanut butter mixture evenly. Do not press into mixture. I totally pressed them and it was a bad idea. Regular Rice Krispies may work if you cannot find Cocoa Krispies.



In a microwave-safe container, combine half the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and milk/cream. Microwave for thirty seconds then stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds then stir. If the mixture still seems a bit lumpy microwave for another thirty seconds. Pour the mixture over the crust then repeat the process. Make sure the chocolate mixture is spread evenly.

The Original recipe did not yield enough chocolate for me, so this was my way of fixing that. It tastes way better too.



Refrigerate for at least an hour, and then enjoy.

I LOVE these. I am so making them for my birthday this year. I think this is the best recipe I've posted, I hope you enjoy them as much as I have :)

Peanut Butter Bars I (From now on the titles will be hyperlinks to the original recipe. For whatever reason blogger doesn't blue/underline hyperlinks)
Ingredients
• 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (a regular sleeve of graham crackers)
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups Coco Krispies (optional)
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk or cream
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
2. Sprinkle Coco Krispies over peanut butter mixture evenly.
3. In a microwave-safe container, combine half the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and milk/cream. Microwave for thirty seconds then stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds then stir. If the mixture still seems a bit lumpy microwave for another thirty seconds. Pour the mixture over the crust then repeat the process. Make sure the chocolate mixture is spread evenly. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Double post, Bee's Favorite: Thingamajig

For a good portion of my life I believed the Reeses were the greatest candy in the world. Chocolate and peanut butter is one of my favorite combos ever. Another is chocolate and crisped rice.

It was a glorious night three or four years ago. I was living on my own sort of. My significant other and I had rented some cheesy horror movie and decided to go to the Walgreen's next door for some cheap sodas. I meandered past the candy section looking for after Halloween candy when I saw this

Chocolate, cocoa crisps, peanut butter. Love.

I bought one with low expectations. I hated Whatchamacallit's. I bit into it and a loving love-bond was formed. With love. It was amazing. Hands down the best Hershey chocolate creation I had ever tasted ever. It's kind of like a Nestle Crunch bar crossed with a Reese, but with better quality ingredients.

Sadly these chocolate bars are super hard to find (Wal-mart has them right now for a "limited time".) Very much worth a taste.