baking – Page 15 – morestomach

carrot bread

Published on October 14, 2013October 16, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

i don’t like carrots
it’s a long story
i don’t mind it when it’s accompanied
with some hearty meat
in a stew
or if it’s seasoned with strong
flavors
but on it’s own,
no thanks

dw is quick to point out that
every few weeks i buy a 5lb
bag of the stuff
it’s just that it’s perfect flavoring
for stocks
for soups
for stir frys
and as much as i hate to admit it:
baking

and so for last week’s breakfast
i made this carrot bread
it’s a repeat,
one that i’m willing to make again
due to the huge bags of the stuff
i keep purchasing
plus, when it’s with sugar
and cinnamon
and baked into bread form
it’s actually palatable
to me

carrot bread
adapted from the Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

1.5 cups plus 1.5 Tbl AP flour
1/2 tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup veggie oil
3/4 cup scant sugar
2 cups finely grated carrots
1/8 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 350F 20 minutes before baking.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, oil and sugar until blended. Add the flour mixture and continue stirring/beating just until incorporated. add the carrots and continue mixing.

Scrape the batter into a bread pan (9X5″ loaf pan, sprayed with nonstick oil or greased). Bake for about an hour, or until the top is golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (mine went for about 55 minutes) Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then run a small spatula between the sides of the pan and unmold it onto an oiled wire rack. Wrap the loaf well in plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight to distribute the moisture. If you can’t wait till the next day, it’s fine, just be sure to allow the bread to cool completely before cutting.

other breakfast treats:
morestomach – blueberry breakfast cookies
morestomach – s’mores donuts
angry asian creations – english muffins
dinners for winners – orange cardamom yogurt cake
olives for dinner – perfect hash browns

oatmeal creme pie cookies

Published on October 4, 2013October 31, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach19 Comments

{i’m interrupting the wedding related posts to talk about these cookies.}

i have the annoying ability of remembering
the most random things
the other day, while driving somewhere,
i recounted a childhood story to dw
(for the record, i do this often
as a result, at the wedding, he would
point at someone & say, “is that the one
who taught you …”)

anyway, the story goes:
i was at a fair with my cousin
we were playing musical chairs with
the other rugrats at the fair
in the first round
i sat in the chair the exact same time
as another girl
she nudged me and since i wasn’t the
most competitive person i conceded to her
as a result, i received an earful
about standing my ground
staking my claim
being a Victor
(seriously, The Hunger Games has nothing on my family)

i listened intently,
i was an intensely good listener back then,
and during the next round
i played for keeps
when i ended up in a chair
with someone else
before that kid could nudge me
i shoved her on the ground
~~and made her eat dirt~~
and won that game
like a Gladiator

i’m fairly certain i received
another earful about
good sportsmanship
but i don’t remember that part
i just recall feeling kinda
like Loser Winner
it wasn’t fun
it didn’t feel good
i’m certain i never played Musical Chairs again

these cookies are like
that childhood story
minus the dirt
and shitty taste in your mouth
instead, it was remembered
at the most random time,
thanks to this image
and dw’s massive enthusiasm

through an email exchange with
carey, who shared with me her
thought process
i came up with a plan
i have a favorite oatmeal cookie recipe already
and while i am not the biggest fan
of frosting/icing/filling
i think i can make do with something
in between these sweet things

and so, the week prior to
the wedding
when the heat was still lingering
and i had a business trip looming
and an abode to clean
and a wedding dress to fit into
i turned on the oven
and got to cranking

surviving all that:
that tasted good
but these oatmeal creme pie cookies?
man
this is what true victory tastes like

Oatmeal Creme Pie Cookies
cookie recipe adapted from food loves writing’s gma
marshmallow/meringue filling recipe – i’m sure some french person came up with it

**note: i doubled the cookie recipe and came up with about 24 cookies, making for 12 sandwiches. the filling amount was just enough for all the cookies.

cookies:
2 sticks of margarine, room temp (i use earth balance non-hydrogenated vegan butter sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 TBLS water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups spelt flower
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins

pre-heat the oven to 325F

in a bowl, mix the sugars with the margarine. add in the eggs, one by one. mix. add in the vanilla. next add in the dry ingredients, incorporating everything, but don’t overmix. last, fold in the chocolate chops and raisins.

using an ice cream scooper, place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (i did not do this, and as a result, spent some extra time 5 minutes after taking the cookies out of the oven make sure the cookies didn’t cool onto the sheets) press down a smidge, to help them be roughly the same size. these will spread but not too much.

bake for 12-15 minutes.
allow to cool completely before making sandwiches.
store in fridge.

eating them at room temp is fine, but when eaten right out of the fridge, the cold crispness really adds a lovely texture to whole thing.

marshmallow/meringue filling recipe
2 egg whites
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

in a clean metal bowl add in the the egg whites. over a pot of simmering water, whisk, with a hand mixer, the egg whites until soft peaks form. add in the sugar and vanilla. whisk some more until it’s firmer/stiffer.

wipe the bottom of the bowl and stash in fridge until ready to use.

PS. don’t look at the nutrition facts. for real.

other oatmeal related baked goods:
morestomach – chocolate wonderfuls
movita beaucoup – oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
reclaiming provincial – pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
tutti dolci – oatmeal toffee cookies

roasted bone marrow

Published on September 6, 2013September 5, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach11 Comments

during the languid months of Winter
i’m my least social
except for that first year
i met dw
for some reason
there was always something planned –
an out of town trip
a girls’ weekend
guests in town
you name it, i had it going on
and so,
dw kept my interest
with his daily emails:
eloquent
thought provoking
speckled with $5words
that made me swoon
i could cry when i
think back to that time
when i was already enamored with
someone i hadn’t yet met

by nature, i am a realist
by heart, i am a romantic

it was 3 weeks
before we finally met
it was a slow start,
admittedly,
but i can still taste
how delicious
the anticipation was

roasted bone marrow
*note: you can bake at 350F for 20 minutes, or broil for 8-9minutes

4 bone marrow, we purchased from whole foods, i can’t recall the weight
salt/pepper
rosemary
olive oil, optional

place the marrow in oven safe dish
in a mortar & pestle, grind the salt/pepper with rosemary, amounts at your discretion and according to taste
season over marrow

broil for 8-9 minutes. the goal is to soften the marrow, but not liquefy it.

to serve: i made rosemary dutch oven bread earlier in the day. spread the marrow goodness on sliced bread, enjoy!

i meant to grab the green tomato & mint chutney, which would’ve cut through the richness but i forgot!

other bone marrow adaptations:
the kitchn – on eating bone marrow
pepper – bone marrow + apple pear confit

meyer lemon bars

Published on September 3, 2013June 17, 2015 by Lan | MoreStomach15 Comments

so avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. a man is not very tired, he is exhausted. don’t use very sad, use morose. language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do.” N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

this may be a weird thought,
but i equate online dating,
or rather,
the reading of online dating profiles
to reading a professional resume
i know in my previous
post i used the analogy of
Online Dating as
a Swimming Pool,
one where i dove headfirst into
the deep end
(cus, what other way is there?)
when i signed into
the match making site
i really viewed it as a
job application –
this looking for an ideal mate,
and interviewing to see if i’m
someone’s ideal mate
as a professional headhunter
i say without ego
that i am an excellent judger of
a shitty resume

personally, i have rules with
regards to how a resume should look:
punctuation (this space is exempt)
capitalization (again, this space is exempt)
grammar (seriously)
first person vs third person perspective
length of resume (too short shows lack
of imagination, too much bores me to death & i end up skimming)

this isn’t even touching on the subject
of pictures

again, with my rules:
recent pictures
(i can normally tell if a photo
is outdated, hello 1996 high school class pic)
group picture or worse, a picture
with someone (usually a chick) cropped out
the topless in the bathroom shot
(there’s an alarming amount out there)

last, but actually the beginning:
the manner in which the
perspective applicant applied
the wink or “yo” emails were
promptly deleted and depending
on my mood, blocked
if there was even a slightest
indication that the guy did not
read my profile
(which, i’ll be truthful, read
very much like how i talk,
which incidentally, is how i write here)
if the email was interesting enough,
the profile was alright,
it was then that i responded

i know, i’m such a brat
it’s a wonder i got asked out
but i managed to go on dates,
a few of them repeats!
this went on for an exhausting 3 weeks
when one night
i received an email that
stopped me in my tracks
made me sit down
log into my account
to respond
and give him my personal contact
information right off the bat
it was dw’s email
i just knew

you know when you ask your
mother/whoever how they knew they met
The One
and they say vaguely,
and maddeningly,
that you just know
that was my moment
i just knew
he woo’d me from the first email
and i just knew
he was The One

Meyer Lemon Bars
*note: i didn’t make these. dw did. i know. see what i mean?

1 cup flour
1/3 cup scant coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°
Mix flour, coconut oil, and confectioner’s sugar.
Press evenly into bottom of square pan
Bake for 20 minutes

Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.
Pour over hot crust and bake about 25 minutes longer
Cool
Cut into squares

other citrus and/or bars:
angry asian creations – lemon bars
angry asian creations – lime bars
morestomach blog – chocolate wonderfuls
spontaneous tomato – peach rhubarb oatmeal bars
une gamine dans la cuisine – brown butter peach crumb bars

diy homemade goldfish crackers

Published on August 12, 2013August 9, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

we went to get dw fitted for a few suits
this summer
doing the grown up thing,
chatting with a proper
tailor
dw standing in front of a
3-way mirror
being tucked and nipped
and damnit, me kissing him silly
cus he is just so dang c u t e
(fyi: making out in public,
in a men’s fancy schmancy suit store
is only entertaining for me,
everyone else gets all flustered)

pda aside,
i always equated getting clothes specially
fitted and tailored
to be oh so grown up,
adult,
and well, i realize i am a
grown ass woman,
i feel so (not to mention, act) adolescent
does this feeling ever go away?
i hope not

when i was younger i wasn’t
much of a snacker
sure we had the random dorritos
or triscuits in the house,
sometimes,
however that was later, when my
sisters grew up and for
convenience sake there were
nibbles available
but when it was pretty much
just me in the house,
with my gparents,
there was never enough in the grocery
fund for cookies or fruit roll ups
as a result, i’m awful with
remembering to pick up
snacks
and even with the means to buy
them now,
and even when it’s on the list
i draw blanks with what to buy
so poor dw’s lunches are
always bland:
(he’d be the kid in the cafeteria
with nothing to trade)
the leftovers from the previous
night’s dinner
maybe a piece of fruit
and
that’s it
i know, right?

goldfish crackers are a
childhood staple,
not my childhood,
but you know,
~~the white folk~~
i could buy them now
i suppose, but they’ve been on
my radar to attempt,
and since i’m a grown up without
little ones to mind
i spent a sunday morning rolling the dough,
cutting the fish shapes
no lie, they’re adorable
they taste like the real stuff
i think i would just rather
re-learn how to grocery shop
for snacks

homemade goldfish crackers
adapted from she wears many hats

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded. i used cabot’s seriously sharp cheddar
4 TBL cold coconut oil, Cut Into Cubes
1 cup spelt flour
pinch of salt
2 TBL ice cold water

in a food processor pulse everything but the water until the mixture looks like coarse sand

add in the water, one tablespoon at a time. resist the urge to add more. just don’t.

divide the dough into 3, wrapped in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.

preheat oven at 350F.

remove dough from fridge and allow for the cold edge to warm a smidge. remember, coconut oil is finicky, it gets hard at a lower temp but also melts real easily.

roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. for the first 3 dozen i made little goldfish and then i got over it and just cut the rest of the dough into little random shapes with a pizza cutter. it all tastes the same, trust me.

place crackers on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. bake for about 15 minutes. store at room temp in air tight container.