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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Cookies!


Long before I was brought into the world, there was a tradition of Christmas cookie baking in my family. My aunt over at Terri's Kitchen has been the keeper of the cookies for many years and I've taken up the tradition over the last few years. The butter cookies started way back with my great grandmother and the recipe has been passed down along through my aunt to me.

My aunt always made chocolate chip cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, butter cookies and booze balls ( which I think I was too young to partake in). For the past few years I've done the chocolate chip and the tea cakes, but this year I took a stab at the butter cookies. I always remember the butter cookies being the most festive looking since they come in all different shapes and have sprinkles and fun colors.

I needed to procure a cookie press, which was more difficult than I expected. Despite the fact that the Target website claimed to have them, I couldn't find any in the stores. Luckily Party City came to the rescue or I would have had to try rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters.The cookie dough is pretty simple to make, although the temperature has to be just right so it comes out of the cookie press right. At first I felt really stupid trying to use the press because according to the box all you do is squeeze the trigger on the side and the cookies come out but nothing was happening. After a few frustrating minutes wondering what I could be doing wrong I realized that the handle has to face a certain way or the press won't work ( actually I looked up the Cookie Pro instructional video which actually tells you how to position the handle, which is something the box leaves out). Once I got that then it was easy as pie... well easy as cookies. I think the cookie press might be my new favorite kitchen toy. You can make so many cookies so quickly and they come out in perfect little shapes. The press comes with 12 different disks to make your cookies in various shapes. I opted for Christmas tree shapes, as well as a few of the other traditional ones I remember growing up


One batch got green food coloring, since it seemed appropriate for the trees. I also decorated with green sugar, red sugar and colored dot sprinkles. With my fancy new stacking racks I got from Target I was able to cool all my cookies out on my kitchen table. Based on the way everyone has been gobbling up the butter cookies I'm pretty sure they're going over well. I don't think there will be any left for Santa...

Dad handled cooking the chocolate chip cookies and I made the dough for the tea cakes at the same time as I made the butter cookies then froze it to prepare in PA. The tea cakes are one of my favorites because they're buttery and covered in powdered sugar. A quick pop in the oven followed by a roll in the powdered sugar while still warm, then another roll in sugar when they are cooled off and presto! Yummy cookies!



So now we are prepared for Christmas, just in time since it's Christmas Eve!!! Now it's time to relax!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Road Raging Pet Peeve


Today I'm an angry driver because gas prices suck! Up here in NY everything is horribly expensive, and truth be told, the prices have actually come down in the last month or so. Today I'm pissed off not so much about the prices, but about the price deception.

I've started to see gas prices drop by 30-45 cents in some places, especially further west, but at most of these gas stations, that is the cash price. They usually don't advertise this fact too well, so when you make a sudden turn into the gas station with the $3.55 price, only to discover that the credit price is $3.79, it's pretty irritating. Now, I never have cash on me, or very rarely have enough to cover a tank of gas, so I really dislike this. Most stations appear to charge the credit price for the debit card, but at Shell the other night, I actually got the cash price for my debit card. Goooo Shell!

I've been told that in other states they've made it illegal to have a discrepancy between cash price and credit price. I'd strongly support New York doing that. So Road Raging Pet Peeve of the Week, Gas Price Discrepancy.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Adventures in Gluten Free

Although I'm sure my Italian family, both living and dead, would likely have a panic attack if they are or were able to read this, I am nevertheless going to write about my experience with Gluten Free Pasta. GASP!!!

I'm not a huge fan of food trends, that is, suddenly becoming obsessed with some type of food for no apparent reason, however as I'm sure I've mentioned before, I have been curious about the anti-gluten craze. Generally speaking, most gluten free is out of my budget and since I haven't been tested and told I'm allergic to gluten, I don't feel the need to rush out and buy tons of it. That said, I've read a bit about gluten and it really is in almost everything we eat. I'm fairly distrusting of the processed foods we eat on a regular basis, so I'm curious about these products, plus I grew up having all kinds of crazy digestive problems, so I find alternative concepts interesting.

I purchased gluten free pasta (gasp!) some time ago and have yet to have the motivation to try it, until the other day. This brand was called Tinkyada and is made of brown rice. Yea, I was skeptical too. How could this possibly live up to REAL pasta? The package claims it will be al-dente and not mushy, which I'm guessing is a problem with some other gluten frees.
As I watched it cook up in the boiling water I was a bit concerned about the residue in the water, which had a different look from pasta water, obviously. It did deliver on texture though. I tasted one to make sure it was ready and sure enough it had the right texture, much to my surprise. Eaten just on it's own without any sauce it tasted a lot like brown rice, but I cooked up a nice mixture of peas and onions to go with my sauce and poured it over the top.





It was good! It really was. I don't think I would have known the difference if someone just handed it to me. I'm genuinely astounded and I'd recommend this brand to anyone who finds themselves in need of gluten free.

As far as nutrition though, it really doesn't differ much from regular pasta. In fact, it has slightly higher sodium, slightly less vitamins and about the same of everything else. So, maybe it won't win any awards as far as ultra healthy, but it is made of brown rice, which can be good in moderation ( or possibly not, as brown rice contains some substantial amount of arsenic apparently. But can't everything possibly kill you?). Either way, it's a tasty pasta alternate, although there doesn't seem to be a tremendous benefit to eating it over pasta unless you have to. Thumbs up gluten free.
Stay tuned for my investigation into the pros and cons of Soy products.

Playing with Fire

I've mentioned before that I had an awesome meal cooked for me, and now I've had two. SWB has kindly cooked me two lovely and fiery meals. I've never flambeed anything in my life so watching two of my meals get set on fire was pretty awesome.

Meal 1: Steak Flambe in Rum with Mushrooms with Banana Chocolate Amaretto Flambe
I sadly didn't think about photos until after the fire was gone, but let me tell you, the drippings, alcohol and mushrooms were one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. I just wanted a whole carton of mushrooms in that sauce!




This steak of course prompted much singing of the Steak and Eggs song from Family Guy. If you don't know what I'm talking about take a look.


Meal 2: Salmon flambe with mushrooms
I couldn't find tuna so salmon became the fish of choice, and in an attempt to get back the yummy steak mushrooms I chose mushrooms as the 'vegetable' again. It was quite a tasty salmon, rare on the inside, but thoroughly cooked with fire. We still used rum, but it had less of the sweet taste that came with the meat. This time I got pictures!




Playing with fire.... definitely fun!