Cooking Adventures

Superbowl

2012-02-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, of course we had a SuperBowl eating!!! Giants vs Patriots! Our family was for the Patriots because sometime back my little boy decided he was a Patriots fan. Not sure why or how he picked this team. We are Saints fans!!! So, we supported him in cheering for the Patriots. I haven't felt up to par the past few days, so I didn't really plan much for this event. I did decide to try my hand at making some Pizza Rolls. I thought they turned out fabulous. I also fixed the cookies. My mom prepared the rest of the tasty food.

SuperBowl Menu: Pizza Rolls, Tuna Sandwiches, Chips, Salsa, Fruit Tray, Chocolate Picnic Cupcakes, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Sweet Tea.

Chocolate Chip Cookies are Betty Crocker out of a package. They baked up terribly ugly and flat.

The next day they were so crumbly, they fell to pieces. They actually tasted pretty good.

We all liked them.

Pizza Rolls: I used a box of Pillsbury Hot Rolls Mix. Go exactly by the directions for mixing. Roll out into a flat rectangle. Spread with Pizza Sauce and whatever pizza fillings you like. I used ham, crumbled sausage, bell peppers and cheese. Roll up jelly roll style. Slice about 1 1/2 wide. I just kinda guessed. Place in sprayed baking dish. Bake until rolls are done. Turned out great. The dough is very good.

Well, like the past few games we watched, this game did not come out as we would have hoped. Kody was sad, but we had happy eatings.

Saints vs 49rs

2012-01-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to watch this game. We knew it would be tough, but we really thought the Saints would win. They played hard, but the 49rs defense was just stronger than our defense. We love our Saints. We hated so much they lost this game, but we are looking forward to next season. Geaux Saints!

Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

GAME DAY FOOD! Red Beans & Rice, Lettuce/Tomato Salad, Cornbread, Amish White Bread, Strawberries, Sliced Apples w/ Caramel Dip, Sweet Tea, Banana Pudding and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The Banana Pudding was awesome, I must say. Let me share the recipe. This is the link : http://www.nabiscoworld.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipe_id=55431
It is the recipe that is on the Nilla Wafer box. I double the pudding ingredients otherwise it will not be creamy enough. I also used whipped cream on top instead of meringue. We do make it both ways though. We like to eat ours warm.

This is the link to the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chewy-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/detail.aspx
This was a first time make for me. I did as suggested in other reviews and increased the flour by 1/2 cup and baking soda by 1/2 tablespoon, cut the salt to 1/2 tsp. But I feel like the original recipe would be best. They were just to floury. They didn't taste terrible, but they were just not great like the reviewers said.

Updated The Deli's cake pictures over to the side.

LSU / ALABAMA GAME PARTY and HAPPENINGS.

2012-01-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

Monday, 1-09-2012 - The big college football game day. Undefeated LSU plays No. 2 Alabama in Allstate BCS National Championship Game. Alabama had only been beaten once this season and that was by LSU. Expecting a great game (although we rarely watch college ball), we geared up with the family and some game food. The game turned out to be a big disappointment, but the game food was great. I fixed stuffed bell peppers for the first time (I do believe), and they were fabulous. We had sliced apples with caramel dip, strawberries, pizza, boneless chicken wings, cheese dip w/ chips, pimiento & cheese sandwich bites and chocolate fudge cookies and sour cream muffins.

For the stuffed bell peppers, I washed, cut in half and deseeded the bell peppers. Then on the stovetop, I browned ground deer meat in some olive oil, chopped onion and garlic. Our deer meat has such little fat added to it that it does not have to be drained. Then I added Swansons all natural beef stock to it, some water, rice, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Let cook till rice is done and most all juice is gone and add one can of cream of mushroom. Stir. Scoop into bell pepper halves. Bake till peppers are tender. Then top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake just until cheese is melted. These were good the first day, but second day they were very, very good. The pepper and filling flavors needed to marry. The filling was really good. My kids loved the filling but would not eat it in the pepper. These are a definite make again, even if we make the filling without the peppers.

Chocolate Fudge Cookies. These were very easy to make. My little girl loves cookies and chocolate cake, so I figured she would love these being they are made from a Devils Food Cake mix. Well, much to my surprise she didn't like them, and my picky little boy thought they were great. These were like the stuffed bell peppers. They were good the first day, but so much better the next day. These will be a make again cookie (I used milk chocolate Hershey's chips in them. Hershey's runs their plain chocolate chips on a dedicated line so they will be safe for people with nut allergies.)
The week at work was great. We had some slow days, so we got home early everyday. One evening I made Angel Biscuit Rolls. These tasted good, and I will remake. I was not in the mood to get out the ole rolling pin and roll & cut them out, so I thought I would give another try to rolling them by hand. HA!HA!HA! I should be outlawed from this. My mom has always rolled her biscuits by hand. She makes it look so simple, and they always turned out beautiful. Well, I do not have this talents. I could only cut a few to get jelly inside. The rest fell to pieces. But then again, this is what has happened with any other biscuit I have tried to roll by hand. I also did not let these rise any since the recipe says they do not need to, but one review said she lets hers rise for 30 - 45 minutes. I believe I will do this next time.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/angel-biscuit-rolls/detail.aspx

Another night, I thought it might be fun to make some corndogs since the kids love them. I found a recipe. Mixed them up almost according to directions. It calls for yellow cornmeal. Of course, I just didn't have that on hand, but I did have some Jiffy corn muffin mix. Decided to use it. Which may have been fine, if I would have just been thinking that it may have been a wise idea to not add the baking powder and salt and such since it was already in the Jiffy mix. The batter was nice and thick and coated the hotdogs perfectly. I did not have any sticks. So, once they were put in the grease, they puffed up rather large. Ha!! They tasted ok. I do believe I will make them again, but not with Jiffy mix. The pictures on the recipe link that were posted by others looked beautiful, but they did not look at all like mine,
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/corn-dogs/detail.aspx

Thursday evening, mom rang up. She needed a loaf of bread for a couple of friends who were fixing to take a road trip. Love, love the Amish white bread. Got in the kitchen and whipped her up two beautiful loaves. Will be making some more for our house this weekend.

The side pictures are some of the cakes & desserts that were made at The Broadway Deli this week.

Saints versus Lions Game

2012-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Our family are HUGE Saints fans. Last night was the first round of playoff games for them. My parents and my Mother-in-Law came over for some good eating and some good football. My dad recently has been talking about when he visited my brother in New Zealand eating Meat Pies there. He says they were fabulous. So, I decided I would try my hand at some. Only, I waited to the last minute to start researching them. I feel after making this recipe, I need to do some more research. These were not bad, but nothing to make me get all excited over. To me, this recipe tasted like eating a Sloppy Joe in Puff Pastry. So, if any of you have some good recipes or tips for meat pies, please leave me some comments on them.

Our Saints game food consisted of Meat Pies, Sausage & Cheese Croissant Pastries, Turkey and Swiss Sandwiches, Cheetoes, Chips, Rotel Dip, Ranch Dip, Pizza & Chicken Nuggets for the kids, Jambalaya, Twice Baked Potato Bites and Chocolate Picnic Cake.

This is the recipe link I used.

http://beyourownadventure.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/challenge-3-new-zealand-meat-pie/

I used ground deer meat (I'm not a big cow meat eater). I also bought my puff pastry dough at the grocery. I doubled the recipe to be sure I had enough to feed everyone. I also used large muffin tins to bake mine in. I didn't have any other type baking dish that was similar to the ones I was seeing in some of the recipes.

The Saints won.

Amish White Bread

2012-01-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/detail.aspx

A new year. A new recipe.

Things are off to a good start at The Broadway Deli. Today we served Potato Soup, Chicken Pesto Pasta and our awesome menu items. We also do decorated cakes. Today we tackled a cake to feed 50 for the
mother of a dear friend who is celebrating 30 years at her job. Also, we did a fire truck cake for a sweet little boy's second birthday. This weeks cakes orders are low, but we are gearing up for a great year of cakes. We have been getting serveral calls a day for future cake orders, and we have had to turn down several today for this weekend. The everyday person doesn't realize how much time is put into decorating a cake. Since we are not a full time bakery, we are just not able to put out a decorated cake that is placed on a Thursday for a Friday. Sometimes we are so busy with cakes we require a four week notice on them.

Last night I whipped up some Amish White Bread. The recipe link at the top of this post. It was easy to make and was the best recipe for bread I have made yet. It is very tastey. Some people commented it was too sweet and cut back on the sugar, but I like bread just the way it is. I only have one loaf pan at my home and the recipe makes two loaves. I did have two smaller foil pans, so I split the second loaf into them.
I used King Arthur Unbleached All-Natural Bread Flour. Also, it calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons of active dry yeast which measures out to be two packets if that helps save you some measuring time. Please try out this reicpe. It is worth your effort and time.

New Years 2012

2012-01-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

This start to 2012 has been a great one!

Phil got in some deer hunting this morning. Then an awesome church service, a fast trip to Walmart, great lunch of black eyed peas, rice, cornbread, sweet potatoes, cabbage, pork chops, leftover baked potatoes & tacos with the family at my parents followed by a fabulous SAINTS win against the Panthers. Got some reading done, watched Spy Kids (again), a snooze, another hunting trip for Phil, some arts n crafts with the kids and supper.

Supper was Taco Quesadillas.

Then a new recipe for Apple Bread.

Here's the link for the Apple Bread: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-breakfast-bread/detail.aspx
Read some of the comments, so decided to substitue 1/2 cup brown sugar for 1/2 cup of the white sugar as someone suggested. Someone said they cut their baking time down to 45 minutes. But as all ovens bake differently, I had to up my oven temp to 360 for an hour and ten minutes.

It is good. We tasted it warm. It seems to be a tad sweet to me, but I think it will be better tomorrow once the flavors marry.

Cooking Adventures

2011-12-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Hi! My name is Allison.

I have always enjoyed eating and cooking. I started out cooking as a teenager. I graduated from The Art Institue of Atlanta with a degree in Culinary Arts. I've worked in several restaurants, and now own my own. It's a small place that seats about 30. We enjoy it.

I have a wonderful husband, Phil and two great kids, a girl and a boy. My little girl has a peanut allergy. This allergy limits our dining out which is fine. We now do more cooking at home. I thought I would start

this blog to share some life experiences and our new cooking adventures with my family and friends and any others that may decided to follow.

Today is Saturday, New Years Eve 2011. I am making Light Oat Bread. I will share the link to the recipe. I decided on this blog as I was mixing up the dough, so I will not have any premixing pics. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/light-oat-bread/

The dough is resting - covered. It was a fairly warm day outside, so we did not have the wood stove going. Our house was slightly cool. So, I turned on my little toaster over and put my dough near it to give it a little warmth to help it rise.

After rising in pan, bake. It came out the oven hard on top, but as it cooled it softened.

It is a good bread. No major yeast flavor. Nothing real exciting about it. Would be good warm

with butter or toasted for a sandwich. It is easy to make. I feel sure I will make it again.