Major Cooking Weekend

Sorry, no pictures for this post, just lots of info on what I made this weekend.

Lets start with the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Bread Pudding. The recipe is available at Food Network, here. On Halloween, I helped run a charity event at work and we had some left over doughnuts so I took the box home with the plans of making the bread pudding. The doughnuts got a bit dry but I don't think that was any problem. The bread pudding is super simple, you just mix fruit cocktail with sweetened condensed milk then soak the doughnuts in that mixture. It all gets baked at 350 for an hour. There is also a rum sauce mentioned in the recipe, I didn't make that this time. All and all, it was super simple, tasted good, and was easy to make. Worth making again.

Next up is homemade apple butter. I would have never thought this would be so easy. My dad passed along the recipe to me, courtesy of the Akron Beacon Journal. The article and recipe are here. Since the article made it sound so easy, I had to give it a try. The only necessary equipment is a slow cooker (I have 2 sizes and I found the smaller one to be the perfect size for 1 batch). To begin, get 5 lbs of granny smith apples (you could probably substitute another variety as long as it is firm and tart) and peel and dice them. The size of the dice is up to you depending on how chunky you like your apple butter, bigger dices make chunkier butter. Put the apple pieces in the slow cooker and cover with 2 cups of granulated sugar and 1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon (you can adjust this depending on your taste for cinnamon). Turn on the slow cooker to low, put on the lid, and walk away for 10 hours (or if you are doing this late at night, go to bed). 10 hours later, come back the slow cooker and remove the lid; let the apples continue to cook for another hour; do no change the temperature, do not stir, just take off the lid and walk away for an hour. 1 hour later, come back to the pot and stir the apples. Once stirred, let them continue to cook for about another hour. Once the last hour is up, turn off the apple butter and let it cook. You are done. Yup, its that simple. The recipe is pretty spot on as to how much it makes, I got just about 6 cups of apple butter from my batch. If you like apple butter, give this a shot.

Up next is something that didn't quite turn out. A friend had told me about a sauce for meatballs (like when you are going to be serving them for a snack at a party). He said to mix equal amounts of Coca Cola and Grape Jelly with the meatballs and let them cook in the crock pot. I was a bit skeptical to try this one, it just seemed too odd, but I had picked up a bag of meatballs at the grocery store that morning and figured I would give it shot. Maybe I did something wrong, but I didn't find them all that good. The soda made for way too much liquid and meatballs got kind of soggy. Plus the grape jelly and the soda combined made the sauce too sweet for my tastes.

I also experimented with 2 different bar cookie recipes. I am trying to figure out what I will be making this year as gifts so I'm starting early and trying out new recipes. Both of these came from a cookbook that has "dessert in a jar" type recipes. Basically its one of those layer all the dry ingredients in the jar, then all the gift recipient has to do is add a few ingredients and bake. Both of these looks pretty simple on the recipient end, all that was needed was sweetened condensed milk. They were similar recipes, both had graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, and one had raisins. Each came out alright, but there was nothing that great about either one. I will continue looking for another thing to give.

And lastly, I got a great deal on some fresh basil. I used it to make a oil based dipping sauce for bread and pesto. I haven't tried either one yet, that's on the agenda for tonight. If they taste good, I will post an update letting everyone know what went in them.

If you have any questions about what was mentioned in this post, leave a comment or send me an email.

Lack of Inspiration

Lately I've been in a slump. I haven't been cooking or baking all that much and the stuff I have been making hasn't been all that exciting. I think I'm lacking inspiration.

This was discussed while having dinner last night with a very long-time friend at Bonefish Grill. The final decision of the evening was that I should post a request to those who visit my site to submit ideas. It could be anywhere from a new recipe you are afraid to try, an idea for a recipe that you want to know if it will work, or to a review of something on the commercial market. I'm open to suggestions.

So, leave a comment, even an anonymous one, and let me know what you want to see posted here next.

Transformers Custom: Metrotitan

Here is my first real custom figure, Metrotitan. A while back I was able to pick up an extra Cybertron Metroplex on clearance for $15. Since Metrotitan was a repaint of Metroplex back in the day, I wanted to do a similar repaint for this version. I know it isn't exactly like the original, but Cybertron Metroplex wasn't all that much like the original either. I tried to keep the basic colors, making sure that the head and arms were red, but knew that I wouldn't be able to keep everything the same. I still need to get some Decepticon stickers for him because right now he doesn't look all that much like a bad guy.

Let me know what you think.

Transformers Collection

I know this is very off topic, but some people wanted to see my Transformers Collection so I decided to do a post here about it. This also allows me to put in lots of pictures. I will try my best to give a basic overview of what is in each picture. You can also click on the picture to see a larger copy.

Here is the best overview shot of the collection. Most everything is on these bookshelves or in the cases.

This is the view of the other side of the room. There is another IKEA case along with a table and a shelf that mostly holds Alternators.

Another overview shot.

This is the "Axalon" ship that I built last year for the Botcon Art Contest. On it are the pre-Beast Wars figures. Behind are the Transformers Race Track and the Hard Hero Unicron statue.

On these shelves are some Cybertron figures where I was trying to make a scene similar to how the series ended with supersized Starscream and his minions against the smaller Autobots. Below that are some Convention/Club Exclusives. There are some reissue Beast Wars figures on the top on the right. All my minicons are mostly here on these risers. Below the minicons are some Energon figures.

These shelves have the rest of the Energon line along with all of the Beast type figures. These includes Beasts from Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and Robots In Disguise.

These shelves have all of my Universe figures. I think I have mostly all of the figures released under Universe except for a few. I also have some still in their package which are not pictured.

Here is Armada and some larger figures. There is Unicron, Primus, Masterpiece Prime, and Galaxy Force Prime.

Here is my G1 Reissue collection.

The left side case is my G1 collection, the right is Cybertron.

Same as above, G1 on left, Cybertron on right.

Here are the Alternators along with some Titaniums and some Gobots are on the end.

These are my Classics Decepticons. These include this year's Botcon exclusives.

Here are the Classics Autobots. Alpha Trion is hopefully coming soon.

Movie Autobots. Not many here yet, I'm sure this will fill up soon.

Movie Decepticons. Same story as above, I know this shelf will fill up fast.

Here are my statues and busts. In the back are the Rhinox statue and the Insecticon statues. Also there is a Energon Ultra Magnus up there.

Nothing too exciting up here other than Unicron with some minicons around him.

Here is a store display spinner where I have some more minicons and most of the Legends of Cybertron figures. Cybertron Cryoscourge looks over them.


And thats about it. Thanks for looking.

Summer Fruit Tart

This is a long overdue post. I made this tart back over Memorial Day for a cookout.

It's easy to make and was very well liked.

The base is store bought, ready to bake, sugar cookies. You just press the dough evenly into the bottom of a pan. I would suggest lining the pan with parchment paper so that its easier to remove. When baking the base, drop the suggested over temperature down about 15-20 degrees and let the cookie crust bake longer (another 5 minutes or so).

Once the base is done, let it fully cool. While it is cooling, mix a small package of instant cream cheese pudding with a pint of sour cream. Spread this mixture over the cooled crust. Then just top the tart with sliced fruit of your choice. I used strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, and red raspberries.

Its simple, quick, and makes a great summer dessert.

Review: Tostitos Flour Tortilla Chips

One day last week I was running through Walmart and saw these on an endcap. I had heard about them and was interested in trying them so I picked up a bag. I believe they were $3, which I did find to be on the high side, since the bag is rather small.

The chips are also on the small side compared to what I consider regular tortilla chips. They are also considerably thicker. On the first bite I was certain that I had just wasted $3. Something didn't seem right. However, I couldn't resist eating another chip. Still, something seemed off. After finishing off a handful of chips I figured it out. These are not your regular tortilla chips.

They are alright on their own as a snack but I think these would be best used as a dipping chip. They are on the thick side and would not break under heavy dips. They are different and take some getting used to; but all and all they are pretty good.

Another thing that surprised me is that they are nearly identical to the Restaurant Style Tostitos in terms of nutritional stats. They have the same serving size, calories, fat, carbs, and protein which is odd since the Flour Tortilla Chips have a whole lot more ingredients.

Unless you want a chip thats significantly different than the standard tortilla chip, I would pass on these. Sorry Tostitos, they're alright, but not up my alley.

Holiday Foods

Here are a few pictures of things I made over the holidays. I'm not going to go into much detail here, but I wanted to get these posted. If you have any questions about the stuff listed, leave a comment and I'll add more. Oh, and you can click on the picture to see it better.

Chocolate Streudle: I had some thick philo dough that had to get used so I made this. It was a bit crunchier than I would have liked. Great flavor.


Baklava: Great as always. This one I did on my own. The filling was walnuts I believe. I did make too much syrup so they were a bit stickier than usual.


Assorted Candies: Peppermint Bark, Chocolate Chews, Caramels, Chocolates, and Cashew Coconut Brittle: These were given out as Christmas gifts. This was the first time I made candies such as these. The peppermint bark and the brittle went over the best. I've been asked to make more brittle next year.


Fig and Walnut Tart: I saw this in a magazine and thought I would give it a try. It was good, a bit time consuming though. Everything was made from scratch. In the future, I would use the crust again but would pass on the figs and walnuts. Figs still are not my thing.

And I'm Back....Presenting Gingerbread Man-Cake

Alright, I want to begin by apologizing for the lack of updates over the past month. Its been a busy time and I haven't done much creative cooking, thus I wasn't inspired to post. But now I'm back, and hopefully back to a more regular posting schedule. So I'm beginning today with what one of my coworkers called Gingerbread Man-Cake. She said that tasted like gingerbread and was thick and dense, hence the gingerbread and the man portions of the name. Actually, everyone who had some, thought that it was a type of gingerbread, even though it wasn't.

This all began with my wanting to bake something so I looked through the "baking" cupboard (I keep all my baking related ingredients in one cupboard) and found that I had 2 spice cake box mixes. I made that my starting point. I then assembled the other ingredients (see picture below).
It might be hard to see everything, so let me go through the list quickly. There are eggs, oil, cocoa, nutmeg, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips. And I also used some water (about a cup I believe). I baked the cake in the tart pan seen the picture. The bottom lifts out; which was really good since the chips sunk to the bottom of the cake and stuck to the pan a little.

I sort of followed the directions for the cake mix. I put in the 3 eggs it called for and put in about 1/3 cup of oil. I say about since I just eyeballed it. If you've read my blog, you know my stance on box cake mixes, they are about impossible to mess up. I then added some water to thin down the batter and put in about a 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and probably 2 tablespoons of cocoa. The consistency was about right for a standard cake batter at this point so I stirred in the chips (which together were probably 1 and 1/2 cups worth).

Since I was using a very shallow pan and the batter almost filled it fully, I reduced my baking temperature to 320 F. It took significantly longer to bake, but it stayed relatively thin (it did rise above the pan but not by a great deal).

After it had cooled I cut the cake into wedges and put it on a tray that I took to work the next day. The cake went pretty quickly (and I noticed a few people going back for seconds).

Here is the final result:One note, I should have taken the picture in a different location. The background of the table is too close in color to the cake. Oh well.

And many cookies were made.....

There is the assortment of cookies that I took to work this past Monday. Over the weekend my family and I made all of these treats. I helped with the making of many (except for the peanut butter and chocolate fudge which were made by my brother). I don't have pictures of every cookie, but here is a quick run down of what was made.

Cinnamon/Cherry Swirl Chip Cookies: Top of right side tray: My aunt made these before the rest of us made it to her house so I'm not sure of the name of these cookies or what all went in them, but they look nice and tasted good.

Peanut Butter Cookies (with Hershey's Kisses): The batter for these was also already made by the time we arrived, they followed the standard recipe.

Chocolate Graham Walnut Scotchies: Bottom of right tray: There were supposed to be oatmeal pecan scotchies, but after I already started making the batter I found out that my aunt did not have any oatmeal. After looking through her supplies I found a box of chocolate teddy grahams and figured that I could use those. I ground them up and put them in to replace the oats. Then since I had already changed the recipe and a lot of walnuts had already been chopped, I opted to use walnuts instead of pecans. Other than those changes, I pretty much followed the recipe. The chocolate flavor is very mild, the main flavor you taste is butterscotch.

Sugar Cutouts: My brother made the dough for these cookies a few weeks ago and froze it. It thawed nicely and was easy to roll out. My mom and grandmother did about all of the work on these, I only made the icing. I found a nice royal icing recipe but it was too thick so we thinned it down. Then that was a little thick too so we thinned it more. We shouldn't have thinned the second time, the icing on those cookies didn't get totally firm and were still sticky. That's something I will have to remember for next time.

Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cookies: The top right side of the right tray: I don't know where my mom got these baking chips from, but apparently Hershey's makes a raspberry cream filled chocolate baking bit. We just followed the recipe on the back of the package for these ones. Here is the recipe off Hershey's site. We went with the chocolate cookie variety. The cookie itself is alright but the texture is sort of dry; however, as soon as your tongue hits one of the raspberry cream bites you'll love it.

Fudge: As I mentioned before those were made by my brother. He's always been the one to make it, so I don't even try.

Peppermint Patties: These are hard to see, but they are in the upper middle next to the sugar cookies. These are a lot like the York peppermint pattie, but homemade. I mixed together baking powder, evaporated milk, and peppermint extract to make a dough. I rolled the dough into small disks and let them dry for a few hours. Once they were dry I melted some dark chocolate and shortening. I dipped the dried peppermint disks into the chocolate and set them on wax paper to dry. They have a nice flavor, the peppermint isn't too strong and the flavor of the chocolate comes through quite well.

Baklava: I saved this one for last. Every year we make baklava, my family is not Greek (or even remotely from that area of the world), but somehow making baklava became a family tradition. As usual we make 2 big trays and this year was no exception. However, we mixed things up a little this year and made 2 different types of baklava. We made one batch with walnuts and a lemon sugar syrup glaze and the other batch was made with pecans and a honey based glaze. If you only tried one of the batches I'm certain that you would enjoy it; however if you try them both, the pecan batch was the better of the two. Another interesting thing I wanted to mention about this year's baklava was that the philo dough (the very thin sheets of dough that make up the top and bottom of the baklava) came from the import store at the West Side Market. Up until now we had been using the stuff in the grocery store but had a difficult time with it last year since they changed the size of the sheets. While looking around the market one day earlier this year I saw the philo dough and made a note to go back and buy it from there. That was one of the best decisions I could make. The sheets held together quite well and didn't dry out easily. They were also much more affordable than that of at the grocery store.

Well, that's it for now. This coming weekend I have plans to make some candy type treats. I'll post more on that soon. If you have any questions about any of the cookies shown in this post, please leave a comment or drop me an email.

Apple Sweet Potato Pie

This is a creation that I would like to call my own (well, with a little help from my father). The idea for this pie came from a recipe card that my dad picked up at the grocery store. It was for an apple and sweet potato casserole. He gave me the recipe and suggested that I make it. From looking at the ingredients, I figured that it would make a good pie. Apple Pie is good and Sweet Potato Pie is good, so combined it should be good.

I cheated on the pie crust, using ready made; but the rest was all homemade. I'm not going to go into the whole recipe here, but if anyone is interested, drop me an email or a comment and I will give you all the details.

This pie was actually made in 2 steps because I wasn't fully happy with the result after the first baking. After the first bake, I had basically made the casserole on the recipe card, but in a pie crust. It tasted much more like a side dish than a dessert.

On the suggestion of my father (who got to taste the pie during the first step), I rebaked the pie with a cinnamon-sugar syrup. I boiled some sugar, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg until thickened and poured the syrup over the pie. I then baked the pie for another hour at 300 C so that they syrup could soak in and the sweet potato would get more tender. The result above was from after the second bake.

If you don't like sweet potatoes, you will probably not like this pie (even after the second bake). But if you like them, then this is the pie for you.