Stuffed Mushrooms

mushroom caps, stems cut out

stuffing: diced mushroom stems, beef, and 1/2 whole wheat hamburger bun

 stuffing added to a pan with 2 slices of bacon 

the bacon grease wasn't enough to make the bread soft, so I added a couple tbsp of heavy cream

stuffed the stuffing into the mushroom caps

added some shredded monterey/colby blend cheese

added some pine nuts

put in the broiler on low, center rack, for about 5 minutes

mighty tasty.

Yummy Yellow Cake

Best. Cake. Ever.  (have I said that before...?)

I felt like making a yellow cake.  But many of the recipes I looked at either called for a gross amount of sugar, more eggs than I wanted to sacrifice to a cake, or boiling water.  (Boiling water? Seriously? Way too complicated for a cake.)

Then, I found this recipe.  Not a completely crazy amount of sugar.  An acceptable number of eggs.  No boiling necessary.  Perfect.

A note before you make a cake...check and make sure you have all the ingredients first.  I got halfway through mixing this cake and then discovered that I had no vanilla.  Hooray for Kroger being only 5 minutes away. 

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients.

2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon (my personal addition to the recipe)
1 1/4 c milk, add vegetable oil to the 1 1/3 c line
1 stick butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla
3 large eggs

I used a little hand-held mixer for this recipe.  I always resist using it, because it seems way easier to beat things with a wire wisk or a  fork, but using either of those requires me to melt the butter first, and that has been causing problems because it makes the batter too warm... Sometimes I think it would be great to have a real, standing, mixer...but where would I keep it?  I already have to keep my pots, flour, and sugar outside of the kitchen! Darn small kitchen...

Bake for 25-40 minutes. (The original recipe said 20-25, but when I checked it btwn 20 and 25 minutes, the center of the cake was still liquid.  The edges of the cake were brown, but the center was definitely not even close to being solid.  I had to cook it for another 10-15 minutes.  Somehow the edges managed not to get any browner though, that was nice. 

I didn't frost the cake because I think frosting is gross.  I did melt some chocolate chips, mix in some cinnamon, and spread that on top of the cake though.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmy.

Sorry, no pictures of this one.  I was much too busy eating it to take pictures.

Random Tantalizing Food Pictures

Here are some pictures that never quite made it to blog posts. 

What can I say, life is busy. 

salmon burger with cole slaw and mango salsa

salmon burger with cous cous, avocado, and zucchini

tapioca pudding with mango and kiwi chunks

(this was pretty good when it was first made,

pretty nasty after sitting in the fridge for a few days and all the kiwi juice leaked into the pudding,

giving it a bitter taste)

pan-fried tilapia with pasta & veggies

Beef Stroganoff: Take 2

Beef Stroganoff: Take 1

There are several differences between take 1 and take 2.  I used different vegetables, the sauce was slightly different, and...take 1 was too thick, take 2 was too soupy.  Although, in take 2's defense, it was just right after cooling on the counter for several hours and then sitting in the fridge overnight.  But when I ate it fresh out of the pot...it was way too soupy. 

For vegetables this time, I used celery and carrots.

For the sauce, I used a jar of beef gravy, a can of mushroom soup, 1-2 cups of water, 1/2 c red wine, and some heavy cream.

It was delicious, even if it was kinda soupy...

Mango Salsa

2 diced mangos

1 peeled & diced cucumber

1 diced roma tomato

bunch of basil, finely chopped

dash of salt

dash or onion powder

dash of chili powder

dash of lime juice

yummy on a salmon burger

Banana Cake w/ Dark Chocolate & Kiwi Glaze

Every now and then I attempt to bake a cake.  Most of these attempts result in a mess that is burned on the outside and raw on the inside.  I like to blame my oven for this, but sometimes I'm not entirely sure that it is actually the oven's fault.  Tonight though, I somehow managed to bake a perfect, delicious, cake. 

The Cake

1/4 c butter

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 over-ripe bananas

1/2 c milk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 c brown sugar

2 c flour

grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  (until toothpick comes out clean)

The Glaze

Cut 2 kiwis in half, scoop out the inside.  I let as much of the juice as possible drip into a glass.  Chop up the kiwi pieces.  Cook them for a few minutes in a saucepan, long enough for more of the juice to come out of the fruit.  Strain out the juice. 

Melt a dark chocolate bar or 2 in a saucepan.  Add the de-juiced kiwi chunks.  Stir well.  Spread on top of the baked cake. 

The Photos

The Notes

1- I used a combo of butter and oil because 1/4 c butter is all I had.  If I had more butter, I would have used just butter.

2- Since I didn't have any butter left after making the cake, I used bacon grease to grease the pan.  A part of me was hoping that I would be able to taste the bacon in the cake.  That part of me was let down.  No bacon taste.

3- I was going to add cream cheese to the glaze, but when I took it out of the fridge I discovered that it was a rather interesting shade of dark turquoise.  Looked like a great science experiment.  Not so great-looking for my cake. 

4- I don't eat dessert.  I had 2 pieces of this cake.  (Okay, I'll rephrase.  I don't eat dessert very often.)

5- The kiwi juice that I saved when I scooped the fruit out of the skin made a delicious cocktail with some strawberry vodka and club soda.  I love strawberry-kiwi flavored stuff.

Salmon Burger

 Hey, look what I found:

Apparently you can get canned salmon that isn't full of bony nastiness.

So I had a delicious salmon burger for dinner. 

1 egg
1 spoonful of sour cream w/ chives
1 can of salmon
some bread crumbs

I ate the burger on 1/2 of a wheat bun, toasted, with sliced avocado and roma tomatos.  Also, some cole slaw and sweet potato & parsnip fries.