Chicken Dumpling Pie?

Growing up, it was always so exciting to hear that we were going down to visit Memaw and that she was making Chicken n Dumplings!! I decided I wanted to attempt a recipe for my slow cooker that would in some way imitate my Memaw's. I was certainly in for a shock -- tasty, but still a shock. 

The recipe was made up of simple ingredients- cubed chicken breast, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth along with a few dashes of spice. Oh yeah, and refrigerator biscuit dough. I am almost ashamed to admit that! Especially if any of my culinary peers/instructors see this. But my intent in doing a slow cooker recipe was for something easy that I could throw together, so I swallowed my pride and purchased two cans of the biscuits I would later roll out into dumplings. 

It slow cooked for 6 hours, while I was busy at work, and when I got home I rolled out the biscuits and quartered each one to be placed in the aromatic liquid. I suppose you should never try out unmarked territory with presuppositions for the outcome... but I did that anyways. I assumed the dough would stay small and flat like my grandma's homemade ones. I never imagined they would expand as they did! They all floated to the top and expanded as if I had just turned over a pan of biscuits! Rolling them out, dividing them... they weren't even phased. 

I was a little nervous to try the dish, especially since we had invited our neighbor over (for the first time) for dinner. But I dished out our bowls anyways and waited for their reactions to decide if I would be heating up leftovers instead. Terrible, I know. I served dinner without even trying it! 

Definitely soupy, like I had grown up with... but I might even make it again! It was rich in flavor and the biscuits actually seemed to fit with the dish. 

Until next time, 

KC

Cajun Pork Chops of Death

In another attempt to be a good wife and to fill my husband's stomach with some great tasting food, I searched out some new recipes on Allrecipes.com -- Cajun Spiced Pork Chops it was! 

It required few ingredients, all of which were dirt cheap: 4 center-cut pork chops, and teaspoons upon teaspoons of incredibly strong spices (paprika, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, dried sage, and garlic powder). The recipe instructed me to "coat evenly", so I did just that. Immediately preceding being thrown into a searing hot saute pan, the pork chops let off a cloud of spicy steam so lethal I instantly started coughing and had water pour from my eyes. However, I attributed this to allergies and just shrugged it off.

After I flipped them, I removed them from the pan to cool until they were to be plated with oiled and salted baked potatoes. It really was such a beautiful looking dish, I couldn't wait for my husband to get home to try them! The color was such a deep, beautiful red. Then The Andy called. He was letting me know he couldn't come to a camping trip we had planned for Halloween. I made the mistake of tasting dinner just as he did so. Now remember the spices I listed before? And that I had EVENLY coated the pork chops? Just as he broke the news to me, I placed the devilish meat on my tongue and cursed like a dirty, old sailor. He began to apologize profusely and I couldn't seem to calm the burning enough to explain the reason for my offensive exclamations and that it wasn't his fault. Those must have been the guiltiest 20 seconds of his life as I reached for the milk and gulped down ounce after ounce, attempting to quell the never-ending pain that had afflicted my poor, unsuspecting tongue. Finally the spasming has subsided enough for me to excuse myself for my previous choice of words, and we had a good laugh over it. Having survived such an ordeal though, I decided I needed to have someone else experience the death-defying act I had just been through. So, I got off the phone with The Andy and plated up my husband's dinner. Cruel? Maybe. But it certainly was entertaining! That dinner was the most painful, sniffly, and entertaining dinner I have ever had and hope to ever make in my entire life! Oh, did I mention I forgot to put milk on my grocery list? Oops! 

We decided against making this recipe again, or atleast coating evenly. 

Tomorrow's recipe: French Dip! Hopefully this next dish will go over better than the last.

Goodnight all! 

Bahama Mommas and Cracked Conch

We are now officially back in the States after a beautiful wedding, and an even more beautiful honeymoon in the Bahamas! True to my foodie nature, I documented most of the trip's cuisine and would like to post my favorite taste-bud experiences here. 

The resort we stayed at had a cafeteria, available for five separate meals a day. This dining schedule included a wonderful midnight bar for those who either spent too much time in the sun that they forgot to eat dinner, or those who indulged in the flowing drinks from sun-up to sun-down and need food to soak up the excess alcohol. I never found myself in either category, so I created my own "those who love desserts" category that fit quite nicely. It also had a poolside "burger joint" whose fries were nearly equivalent to the "chips" I so often indulge on when I find myself in Wales. These two locations were the normal places for normal people to eat. 

Should you feel abnormal one day and decide to strip from your bikini and don a nice dinner dress, they had a Garden of Eden you could dine at. The menu here was complete with Abel's Temptation (a gourmet crab cake, nicely paired with a creamy aoli) and other assorted dishes to follow with the mystifying biblical theme. Below you will see a few pictures labelled on top with my meek description of the dishes. Sorry for the low-quality, I kept getting looks from my table-neighbors about the flash... 

Crab Cake

                

 Scallops

Later, while perusing the island we followed the advice of a few locals to visit the "Fish Fry". The Fish Fry is a section of street right on the edge of the water where you could find a dozen or so seafood restaurants stocked daily with local marine life. One creature in particular being the most popular and desired by the Bahamians is the Conch. Pronounced "con-k". You know those large shells you can supposedly hear the ocean in?? Well, that my friends, is a Conch. When pried from its salmon colored shell it offers you a meat that is so incredibly fresh tasting that even someone who often turns their nose up at seafood, namely me, can't help but to follow up a bite with sounds of utter satisfaction. My friend from the bar at the resort, Marko, had correctly persuaded me to try the Cracked Conch. Following such indulgence, I proceeded to take several photographs of my dish from all sorts of angles. The two men sitting at the table next to us proceeded to stare, I guess I can see how odd that might look. But if they had ordered the Cracked Conch they would completely understand.

Cracked Conch, paired with a side of homemade potato salad and macaroni casserole:

A few random pieces of advice I have from my trip should any of you decide to venture out to the Bahamas:

- If you are going snorkeling, ladies, take care to apply plenty of sunscreen to your backside. Turns out your suit doesn't cover as much as you think it does. The inevitable sunburn makes sitting down for an approximate 5 hours on the plane the next day an interesting experience. 

- Left is right, right is suicide. They drive like people in Britain, don't find yourself on the wrong side of the road! 

- Drinking and driving is acceptable there, in fact... one very entertaining cab driver might start informing you that he drives better drunk. Watch out for that cabby... 

Until next time! 

Double Date!!

Last night was a night for double dates and hamburgers! 

After work, I went home to prep the hamburger buns. Once again, the smell of yeast filled the room as I combined the flour with the warm milk and yeast. I really think I am in love with making bread. 

All-in-all, the process was fine... however, the end product I think had too much flour and was over mixed, making for a very dense buns. Production pictures are below :-)

Pre-rise, before I let it rise for 20 min:

Post-rise:

The finished product:

I didn't take a picture of the finished product with the meat in the middle!! Kicked myself in the face for that one. But seriously, it was absolutely amazing! Regardless of the demon-possessed grill trying to turn our patties into charcoal bricks...

Of course, we HAD to grill up some corn on the cob and then we HAD to coat it with butter and sprinkle it with salt. 

The burger, paired with the corn on the cob, the glass of wine (I can't remember the name... but it's the only red really I have liked), and the great company made for an amazing night! 

Oh, I managed to organize my cooking books (-ish). Check it out! Notice that my fiance's computer books only take up a third of one shelf and my culinary/hospitality books take up one whole shelf, and bleed on to the next:

Good night all! Sleep well :-) 

PS- Casey tried the green beans, and I quote, "Ew, those taste like crap!" Told ya babe! 

Interesting Night...

Last night, August 19th, I came home from work and decided to cook dinner for Girl's Night. The menu? Parmesan chicken, steamed snap peas, and homemade rolls. Let's just say only ONE of those items actually made it to the plates. 

Here's a snapshot of the kitchen I am working out of. It isn't exactly commercial-grade, but as a soon-to-be married woman I am not complaining. 

I started off with my rolls, I knew it was going to be about 2 hours total for them just to rise. Let me just say here, I don't think there is a more amazing smell than yeast softening up in warm milk. It is close to heavenly! I got my chicken set up and turns out the 4-pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts actually had 6 very large boneless, skinless chicken breasts! So I halved them and reserved four of the halves for the parmesan chicken. Then, cut the rest for stir-fry, but I will have to get more into that later. 

Long story short, my chicken decided to cook to at least 180 degrees internally. I say "at least" because after I pulled them out and they cooled for a few seconds, that was the read I got. Oops! 

Massive fail!

So, turns out my prep for tomorrow's lunch - stir fry - paid off! I marinated the strips in raspberry walnut vinaigrette and prepped the saute pan. [BTW, if you find your tea pot to be steaming because the oven beneath your stove-top is 400 degrees... don't pick it up to look inside. There is a 90% chance it is boiling and that you will pour it on yourself. Lesson learned.] It turned out beautifully and my entire apartment was FILLED with the scent of raspberry, chicken, and bread yeast. Yum! I boiled up some rice and put that beneath the chicken in a large ramekin to keep warm.

*my computer died at this point in my post... so I will attempt to keep my comparisons just as wonderful as the initial write-up*

Let's see... where was I. Ah, yes. Green beans. Disgusting, nasty, horrible... they tasted more rancid than a cocktail of stagnant creek water and urine. My fiance thinks I was overreacting, I will just make sure I am present when he tastes them, as he asked me to save them for him in the fridge, so I can be entertained by the inevitable facial expression. I decided to serve cucumbers coated in extra-virgin olive oil, red-wine vinegar, and a little salt & pepper. 

By the time I had cleaned up all the previous messes, it was time to unveil my swelling bread dough and portion it out into heavenly rolls. I said earlier there was nothing more amazing than yeast in warm milk? Well, I was wrong. I then painted each dough mound with hot, melted butter and THAT my friends is the most amazing smell in the world! After a short time in the oven, they were done. And they were perfect! 

In order to ensure perfection, I once again painted each beautiful roll with melted butter. They melted in my mouth.

So to conclude, the original menu of parmesan chicken sided with green beans and rolls quickly changed to raspberry chicken over rice with a side of cucumbers and fresh rolls. Not a bad change, it all tasted very fresh and clean. 

Good day! Time for me to head to work. Nanny by day, foodie by night. Gotta love it! 

My Inspiration

I am sure, since the day after Julie & Julia, the use and/creation of blogs has shot through the roof. I wish I could say I am not one of the many followers inspired by the movie to start a blog, or atleast to create another one devoted to food. Alas, that is the very reason I have decided to start this. However, I do not have a goal in mind and my intentions are purely to hone my cooking skills. 

I am a culinary student, going through culinary/cooking school who doesn't really like to cook. Odd? Yes, I realize this. My passion is to bake. I absolutely LOVE baking! It comes so naturally to me. When I set out on an endeavor to cook, especially if there is raw meat involved, it never really seems to end up like the picture I create in my head. Kind of like me writing sentences, they always seem more poetic upstairs than when they are penciled out. 

In 10 days I will change my last name and become an old married woman -> a house wife. With this comes the responsibility to create menus, stick to the menus, and create edible meals for the both of us. I decided to use this as an opportunity to grow and develop my cooking skills. 

Today was the first day of many to come, and I wanted a place to jot down what I learned and hopefully figure out how to post pictures. This is where blogger.com comes in handy :-) 

I am logging off now, but just as a teaser tonight's dinner consisted of: parmesan chicken, green beans, and homemade rolls... or, atleast that was my intent. It didn't exactly work out like I had planned.