Closing

After about a year-and-a-half (counting the time at the old location), I've decided to discontinue this blog..at least for now. I still love cooking and trying new recipes. I simply don't have the enthusiasm for blogging about the topic. As I've mentioned before, I prefer to update because I want to and not because I feel obligated to.

I will leave this site up so that you can still access my previous posts. Comments have been deleted. Please do not submit any new ones as I will not be checking/approving them.

Thank you all for reading! I never expected to get such a largely-positive reaction from fellow bloggers, Facebook friends, family, and in-real-life friends/associates.

Chocolate brownie-like cookies

I topped these with pink vanilla glaze.

I made these cookies on the spur of the moment, and they were a very delicious surprise. You may notice that this is mostly my recipe for chocolate cake. I was in the process of making a cake when I suddenly remembered that I was out of white vinegar. Since I had already measured and combined all of the other ingredients, I decided to see what would happen if I mixed and baked them anyway. The batter ended up being thick and suitable for baking as cookies. When finished, they tasted a lot like brownies.

Ingredients/what you will need:

• An electric mixer. This batter came out thicker than usual, as I mentioned above, and I had a rather difficult time trying to stir it with a wire whisk.
• 2 medium or large baking sheets (I was able to put six to eight spoonfuls of batter on each sheet)
• 2 large bowls or mixing bowls
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups water or cooled coffee (I highly recommend using coffee for a slightly stronger flavor)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In one bowl, combine and stir the vegetable oil, water or coffee, and vanilla. In the other bowl, combine and stir the sugar, cocoa, salt, flour, and baking soda.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the dry ones. Use the electric mixer to beat them all together for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Use a tablespoon to place globs of the batter onto the baking sheets, spacing each one about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes.

Note

I decided to delete the poll that I recently posted...since there were zero votes for either recipe after nearly a week, I'll hold off on sharing those two for now.

Mozzarella sticks (second attempt, with recipe)

As you can see from the picture on my previous post, my first try at making mozzarella sticks didn't go so well. This time I did a better job of coating each stick. I also liked frying them in a pan rather than a deep-fryer.

In the picture to the left are the ones I made this time. I prepared eight but one had to be thrown out because it came apart in the oil. This is tricky to master.

*** Important note: The amounts of ingredients that I've listed below were enough for eight small sticks. Doubled or tripled amounts will be necessary depending on how many you want to serve. No matter how many you are making, I recommend only heating 1/4 inch of oil and frying eight to ten sticks at a time.

Ingredients/things you will need:

• 4 string cheese pieces (I used the Publix store brand reduced-fat mozzarella), cut in half to make 8 pieces of about 2 to 3-inch length
• 1 1/2 cups Italian-style breadcrumbs
• 2 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup flour
• Enough vegetable oil to fill a large pan/skillet with about 1/4 of an inch of it
• I like to have three bowls: one for each step of the coating, and three plates: one for freezing the cheese sticks ahead of time, one for placing coated sticks on (while still coating others, before frying), and one for placing the finished sticks on.
• Paper towels, for blotting the sticks and wiping your fingers. The egg, flour, and crumb coatings will build up on your fingertips after every few dips.
• Salad tongs or a large slotted spoon for lifting the sticks out of the oil.

1. You will need to freeze the sticks for two to three hours ahead of time. This makes it less likely that they will melt during the frying. Unwrap them, place them on a plate, and carefully cut each one in half with a knife. Do not "saw" through them quickly or strands of cheese may tear off. Place the plate in the freezer.
2. When ready to prepare, pour the oil into the pan/skillet and heat it on medium-high heat. As always, watch hot oil carefully while you are cooking and be careful of possible splatters.

The coated sticks, before frying

3. Cover one plate with a double layer of paper towels. This is for placing the finished fried sticks on; the towels will catch some of the leftover oil.
4. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Beat them, then whisk in the milk.
5. In a separate bowl, stir the bread crumbs and garlic powder together. Add the flour to a third bowl.

6. Remove the sticks from the freezer. Dip each one into the egg-milk mixture first, then coat them flour, then dip in the egg-milk mixture again. Coat them in the bread crumbs. Dip in the egg-milk one more time, then in bread crumbs a second time. Make sure that no areas of flour or cheese are showing - cheese will ooze out of these places later (again, see the picture on my previous post for an example of this).
7. By this time the oil should be simmering or showing faint moving "lines". Carefully add each stick to the pan/skillet. Use the tongs or spatula to turn each stick a bit, until each one becomes entirely golden-brown, then use the tongs or spatula to remove and place them on the paper towel-covered plate. Turn the oil's heat off immediately when finished.

Mozzarella sticks - first attempt

This was my first attempt at homemade mozzarella sticks. I used Publix store brand string cheese, cutting each piece in half. As you can see, I learned my lesson about making sure that each stick is entirely covered in the coatings (flour, egg-milk mixture, and breadcrumbs) before frying. The holes with cheese oozing out will occur with even a seemingly small spot of uncovered stick. They still tasted like many of the mozzarella sticks that I've eaten in restaurants, though, even if they weren't pretty-looking.

I'm holding off on a posting a complete recipe until I try making these in a large skillet or pan. I used a little Presto deep fryer this time. I prefer not to post recipes that require tools/appliances that not everyone has on hand - I just recently bought my own deep fryer.