Cooking My Style

2011-06-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

ha ha ha! I love how I promised to start posting more about 9 months ago.. maybe I will give this a trial run and post a few things and see if anyone notices. :)

2010-09-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the months without posting.I do plan to start posting soon.. I have been cooking a lot, but haven't had time to take some pictures and put them on my laptop, but hopefully I will get on some on here soon. I will be posting as soon as I can.

Roasted Turkey with Fried Pecan-Bourbon Glaze

2010-01-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

I made a turkey several weeks ago. It turned out wonderfully moist. I doubled glaze and butter rub recipe because of the size of the bird (the recipe called for a 12 lbs turkey, but I had a 23 lbs turkey) The glaze was good. It was sweet.
Anyway, the recipe is below the picture:
Ingredients
Turkey:nocoupons
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon House Seasoning, recipe follows
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 teaspoons minced garlic cloves
1 (12-pound) turkey
Stuffing, if desired
Glaze:nocoupons
2 sticks butter
2 cups pecan halves
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup bourbon
For the turkey:
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small mixing bowl combine all ingredients
Thoroughly rinse and dry the turkey well. Tuck the wings underneath the body and place the turkey in a roasting pan. Rub the butter mixture all over the turkey. Stuff, if desired. Roast for 18 minutes per pound (including stuffing weight, if using). The turkey is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh and deep into the stuffing registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear. Remove from the oven and loosely tent with foil. Let rest for 20 minutes before carving.
For the glaze:
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. When the butter just begins to bubble, stir in the pecan halves. Let the pecan halves gently fry in the butter until they take on a lightly toasted color. Then add the sugar, molasses and honey and stir until the sugar melts. Pour in the bourbon, raise the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the glaze is smooth, except for the pecans, of course, and syrupy.
Let the glaze cool slightly and then pour it over the roasted turkey. Serve any extra glaze in the side at the table.
House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Pizza dough

2010-01-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

LOVE THIS COOK BOOK!!! For Christmas I recieved the Pioneer Woman cook book. The recipes are normal, delicious, and easy. The pizza dough recipe is now one of my favorites. (yes, I made this pizza)

Caramel Apples

2009-11-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

When visiting Grandpa and Grandmal, we made caramel apples!

Tuna

2009-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, I made tuna. I wrapped the tuna in partially cooked bacon then baked the tuna in the oven until it looked done. Then I made a sauce of honey, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and a little EVOO. After the meat was done, I drizzled the sauce over it with a few sesame seads. I served it with my green beans and rice.

Hot again

2009-09-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

It is now very hot again in my city... meaning no cooking. I will start again when it cools down. :)

Thursday Dinner

2009-09-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

My parents have kindly agreed to put up with my cooking once a week. This last Thursday, I made a roast chicken, acorn squash, and garlic mashed potatoes. It turned out amazingly. I made Alton Brown's recipe, 40 cloves and a chicken, but instead of cutting up and browning the chicken I just put the chicken in whole. (Recipes below) I used acorn squash and made a sweet glaze on top. For the garlic mashed potatoes I just used the cooked garlic from the chicken and mashed it into the the potatoes.

Chicken
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Squash

Preheat oven to 350

1 acorn squash cut into halves with seeds and middles scooped out

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp melted butter

First take the squash and put it into the oven in a pan with about 2-3 inches of water in it (cut- up side facing down). Steam in oven until squash is very tender. Mix butter, cinnamon, sugar, and maple syrup in a bowl. Then cut the squash pieces in half and drizzle the glaze over top.

Garlic mashed potatoes

25-40 cloves of roasted garlic (I know it sounds like a lot, but roasted garlic has a much more mild flavor than raw.)

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

6 medium potatoes cubed and boiled until mashing consistency

Drain your potatoes and mash in garlic, then add pepper, salt, and cream. Mash until fluffy.

Double Chocolate Cream Pie

2009-09-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

While staying at our house, my Aunt Anne taught me how to make a chocolate cream pie. We used Paula Deen's recipe, 'Double chocolate Cream Pie' It turned out amazing. I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone. It is very chocolaty, but for me that makes it all the better! Here is the recipe:

You Will Need-

1 cup sugar-

1/4 cup cocoa-

1/4 cup corn starch-

Pinch of salt-

3 cups whole milk-

3 egg yolks-

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract-

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips-

One 9" deep dish piecrust, baked & cooled-

Sweetened whipped cream (optional)-

Chopped toasted pecans (optional)

In a heavy-bottomed 1-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Stir with a spoon to mix. Combine the milk and egg yolks and whisk until well-blended. Slowly begin adding the milk and egg mixture to the chocolate mixture, blending well with a metal spoon. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it thickens, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes). When it is quite thick, add the vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir until completely blended. Pour into the piecrust, allow to cool, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with the whipped cream and pecans before you serve!

Pie

2009-08-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

This year we picked a lot of blueberries and froze them. I decided to make a blueberry pie. It turned out beautiful and tasted wonderful!

Cupcakes

2009-08-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

I made cupcakes the other day when we had some friends over for dinner. The recipe I used for the cake was not very good. It was dry and crumbly, but the butter cream frosting I used was delicious! Also I was very impressed with how well I remembered my cake decorating skills I learned several years ago.

Cookies

2009-07-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today I made chocolate crackle cookies. They turned out really good!!! Here is the recipe:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

4oz unsweetend baking chocolate, melted

1/2 cup veggie oil

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

sifted powdered sugar for rolling out

Mix all ingrediants together except for the flour, then once that is mixed add flour. The batter will look like brownie batter, but this is okay. Then stick dough in the fridge for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375, then roll dough into balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Herb Garden!

2009-06-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

It is growing well!

Pie

2009-05-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

While Caitlin was here Mom, let us make dessert one night. We made the Neely's (from Food Network) frozen limeade pie. It turned out delicious and beautiful, plus it was really easy to make.
Ingredients
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 tablespoons butter, melted
Limeade filling:
1 (12-ounce) container whipped topping, thawed
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, defrosted
1 tablespoon lime zest
Candied lime peels, for garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press firmly on bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes and let cool completely.
In a medium bowl, add whipped topping and gently fold in condensed milk. Add limeade and zest and gently fold to combine. Do not let the mixture become soupy. Pour mixture into the pie crust and freeze overnight. Garnish with candied lime peels when ready to serve.

Calorie Counter..

2009-04-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just found this gadget.. I don't know how long I will have it on my blog, but it is very interesting. For instance, I looked up Mc Donalds and their whole menu came up and when you clicked on an item how much fat and calories it has popped up.. I think it is very interesting. :)

Ice Cream

2009-04-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we made ice cream with the new ice cream maker that Mom bought for the boys and I. We decided to make strawberry and it turn out amazingly! What we did was just follow a simple recipe for vanilla ice cream than ran a little over 3 cups of strawberries through my food processor (the boys don't like big chunks of fruit in their ice cream.). Next time I hope to try cookie dough. See picture!

Stir Fry

2009-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found this amazing recipe for cashew and snow pea stir fry. I can't post the recipe because I'm too lazy to type it out right now, but if you want it ask or email me. See picture. I never know why I can't get my food pictures to turn out good. In really life this dish looks good, but in the picture it is not as good looking as it was in really life. Needless to say it is a pretty and easy dish.

Who Needs Cable?!?!

2009-03-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Who needs cable when you can watch full Food Network episodes online? For instance I can watch 30 Minute Meals, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Ace of Cakes, Cooking For Real, Barefoot Contessa, and so many more. This is very exciting to me because we do not get cable or anything like that so I only get to watch Food Network when we go to Sunriver, to see my grandparents, or stay in a hotel. I am now going to watch 30 Minute Meals (if my mom okays it.)

New Herbs

2009-02-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Mom and I went to the store to get some groceries. While we were there we saw that all of the herb seeds were half price. We decided to get some that I did not have to add to my herb garden. We got rosemary, mint (Ethan decided to grow this one, but he is still letting it remain in my garden), cilantro, and sage. I am very excited about having the new herbs! The picture is of all of my herbs and Ethan's mint sitting by the table getting sunlight.

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-02-22T14:19:00.002-08:00

Today is Dad's 42 birthday. I offered to make him a cake, but he said that he would rather have cinnamon rolls. Then later last night while I was looking through my cookbooks trying to find something good and easy to make, I picked up my Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives cookbook. There was a very easy Cinnamon Roll recipe in it, I decided to make it. They had to be some of the best cinnamon rolls that I had ever had!

Growing, Growing, Growing!

2009-02-22T14:18:00.001-08:00

My herbs are just starting to grow! On my basil and oregano plant I can see dozens of little greet leaves poking through the serface! My parsley plant I am just starting to see little green things coming through the surface, but not much so I just decided to post pictures of the basil and sage!

Herb Garden

2009-02-18T15:56:00.002-08:00

I would like to start cooking with herbs more, so Mom let me plant a herb garden. I planted basil, parsley, and oregano. I hope to get more though. I started them inside several days ago, so they hopefully will start growning in a few days.

Valentines Day Gifts

2009-02-18T15:56:00.001-08:00

My Dad, for Valentines Day got me some awesome cooking gifts. He got me a thing to put spices in (as a bonus, it is magnetic), a cookie/ice cream scoop, and a amazing measuring cup. Thanks Dad and boys! I love you! See the picture:

Babysitting Reward

2009-02-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

For babysitting, Mom got me this amazing thing to keep kosher salt in. As you know I love Good Eats and the host Alton Brown uses this thing in his every show. Thanks Mom!

Random fact of the Day

2009-01-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

The way to revive crystallized honey is to put the jar of honey in a in a sauce pan filled with an inch of water and heat until water reaches 160 degrees. (Cooks Magazine)

PS I'm assuming that this means that you are using a glass jar of honey...I do not think that using a plastic one with this would be very good for you.

Random fact of the day

2009-01-29T17:17:00.000-08:00

Soy Sauces shelf life is 1 year. (Cooks Magazine)

Random fact of the Day.

2009-01-29T17:08:00.001-08:00

I have decided to do a random fact of the day. The fact will be about food, cooking, chefs, equipment, or anything that has to do with cooking and food.

Here is today's, it is from Cooks Magazine:

Never put eggs in the egg tray on the refrigerator door, which is too warm. Keep them in the carton which holds in moisture and protects against odor absorption.

Good Eats

2009-01-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

Something that you must understand about me is that I love Food Network. The only problem with this love is that my parents won't get cable, making me resort to the next best thing: checking out Good Eats episodes from the library. Good Eats, in case you didn't know, is a cooking show where Alton Brown (the host) cooks food and while he is cooking incorporates science into it all. Another bonus is that my Mom counts it as educational so I can watch it on school nights. :)

cooking lately

2009-01-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

The reason that I have been neglecting this blog is because I haven't found time to write. I have cooked a lot of things over the past week, but just haven't had the time to post. Hopefully I'll get to posting some of the things that I have made, but for now I'll just post my favorites! Here they are:

Southern biscuits, these are seriously the best biscuits that I've ever had before. I got the recipe from Good Eats with Alton Brown.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

The boys and I made the brownies the other day. This is another Good Eats recipe. They are SO SO SO good, very rich, but still delicious!

Ingredients

Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

Magazines

2009-01-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

To add to all my other great cooking gifts, my friends, Elee, Annika, and Grandma Miles gave me a subscriptions to several food magazines. Elee and Annika gave a subscription Cooks Magazine and Grandma Miles gave me one to Food Network Magazine. They both have amazing recipes that I can't wait to try, including a chocolate chunk cookies recipe (from Cooks) and a soft pretzel recipe (from Food Network). I will look forward to gettting these magazines every month!

Monday Night Dinner

2009-01-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

My Mom has given me the joy of cooking dinner once a week for our family. Last Monday I made steak and veggies. Here are the recipes:

The veggies, I don't have a recipe for I just cut up whatever looks good to me (at this time it was potatoes, zuchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and celery) ,toss it with butter, salt, garlic, and pepper and bake it in the oven until the veggies are tender and then serve.

For the steak I found a recipe from my Rachel Ray cook books. I took several steaks and rubbed them with balsamic vinegar and let them sit. While they were sitting I prepared a rub of 1 and 1/2 tbsp of steak seasoning and a fourth cup brown sugar. I rubbed them with that. I then heated a skillet on the stove with veggie oil (you are suppose to use olive, but we were out :)). I laid the steaks one to two at a time on the pan and cooked them each 3-4 minutes on each side. Enjoy!

PS The picture up above is the meat before I had cooked it.

You'll cut your finger off!

2008-12-28T19:27:00.001-08:00

For those of you that are familiar with the Christmas Story, you know that a boy, Ralphie wants a bb gun for Christmas and whenever he asks his mom, Santa, or teacher about it they reply by saying "No, you'll shoot your eye out." And even when his Dad gets him one, his mom's first words when he goes out to play with it are "Don't shoot your eye out." So you almost start to feel sorry for him by the time that the movie is over. I have never sympathized with Ralphie more than I have the past few days.

My very kind and generous Grandpa and Grandma got me a Rachel Ray knife set for Christmas, which I love. Why? Well the knives are extremely sharp, are heavy duty, and have a sharpener. When I unwrapped them, I heard various people in the room say 'Be careful. Don't cut your finger off'!" Yesterday I made veggie soup and told Mom that I was going to use my new knives to chop up the potatoes, onions, celery and such. Her first words to me were "Don't cut your finger off'." A few minutes later she gets on the phone with my Grandma Denning telling her that I was using the knife set and I hear Grandma over the phone saying tell her not to cut her finger off... The night was followed by continual reminders to not cut your finger off by Mom.

So far I still have all my fingers... but maybe I should get a first aid kit for the kitchen.

Grating cheese by hand days are over

2008-12-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

As you know if you read my previous post, my parents got me a food processor for my birthday. It does sound weird to be 14 and getting kitchen items for your birthday and Christmas, but while all my peers are in college trying to make money for college tuition and things like that... and won't have any money for such things as knifes, cookbooks, and food processors, I'll be all taken care of. I may not be getting the newest ipod or cell phone or whatever for Christmas and I'm ok with that. I'll be taken care of food wise when I leave the house and until then. I also keep on telling Mom not to get too attached to my kitchen gear because they won't be there forever. :) Now back to my food processor.

If you have ever used a food processor you know that it takes just seconds to grate a 2lb block of cheese. Today I grated one and it took no effort at all on my part. It was even fun! Tomorrow I'll make humus and I'll let you know how that turns out. I leave you with these words... Thanks for the food processor mom and dad and be prepared to eat.

More Cooking Gifts

2008-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

My family knows me very well. My Grandpa and Grandma Denning got me a Rachel Ray knife set for Christmas, my Aunt Susan got me a Rachel Ray cookbook for Christmas, my great Aunt Helen got me an ice cream sandwich maker and a cookie press for my birthday, and my parents got me a food processor for my birthday. I love all of theses gifts, thanks everyone!

Recipe sites

2008-12-22T20:30:00.001-08:00

I just added my favorite sites to find recipes at. I always love finding good recipes online. If you have any that you like please comment and tell me what they are.

Birthday Books

2008-12-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

My parents always let me go to a book store and pick out a book for my birthday. This year I chose a Rachel Ray 30 minutes Meals book. They also wrapped up a Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives book by Guy Fieri. I can not wait to get cooking!

Dangerous Chocolate Cake

2008-12-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

This is really good, we made it today for a snack. The texture is kind of funny, but other than that it taste good. Here is the recipe:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE4 tablespoons flour 4 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa 1 egg 3 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons oil 3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) A small splash of vanilla extract 1 large coffee mug Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world ? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Dinner Yesterday

2008-12-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I told Mom I was making dinner. She said okay, but asked me what I was going to make. We had several chicken breast thawed so I decided to make something with chicken. I then started flipping through cookbooks like crazy trying to find a recipe. I found Oven Baked Fried Chicken in Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics book. Here's the recipe:

First get:
3 medium chicken breast cut into halves
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Heat oven to 425. Put butter in pan and let it melt in the oven. Then mix flour, paprika, salt, and pepper in a gallon zip lock bag. After that put chicken (several pieces at a time) in the zip lock bag, shake the bag until chicken is thoroughly coated. Lay the coated pieces in the oven. Bake 30 minutes on one side after the 30 minutes is up bake for another 30 on the other side (or until fully cooked).

After deciding to make the chicken, I then I had to decided what to make as my sides. I chose green beans and potato wedges. Here are the recipes (I made these ones up myself):

Potatoes wedges:

6 medium potatoes cut into wedges
3 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

First toss potatoes in oil, salt, and pepper, then lay evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for thirty minutes, then turn oven up to broil for 5 minutes. Take out and salt again if you think that they need it.

Green beans:

3 cups of frozen French green beans
2 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oil in a frying pan, then add garlic, pepper, salt, and green beans. Cook on medium heat until hot and tender. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Wow! Time is flying by so fast it is hard to believe that it is already December! Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving feast: The first one is what the sweet potatoes should look like. The second is of me making whip cream for our pumkin pie (which I also made, but did not get a picture of). That is all for now!

No More Tears

2008-11-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

My newest greatest idea is to wear goggles while cutting onions . If you are like me, you tear up easily while cutting onions, so I thought up the brilliant idea of wearing goggles while doing it. It's easy and NO MORE TEARS! Feel free to imitate my new kitchen fashion.

2008-11-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

I love to cook, as you can probably tell by looking at my title. I decided to open this blog to share recipes and my ideas weekly. Enjoy!