Happy Thanksgiving and a Teaser

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you all are spending the day with family, friends, and/or loved ones and are appreciating the time you share together.

Mike and I have been and are currently on vacation. I hope that you all have been enjoying our pre-posts. I'll be sure to respond to your comments once we return to the States (oooo...that was your first hint). 

We will post more pictures as our schedules allow. Probably not for another week or so, since I'll be off to PA for some work travel a few days after we return from our trip to the place where muggles live (well sorta, but not really). 

(The Best) Rocky Road Brownies

A couple weeks ago, I was craving something really rich and chocolatey.  I also was eating those jet-puffed mini marshmallows by the handful and wanted to stop myself from eating all those empty Calories of sugar and gelatin. So I decided to instead empty sugar-laden Calories from marshmallows and chocolate.  This led to the creation of this super awesome and delicious Rocky Road Brownies.  I usually do not rave about my experiments in the kitchen, but these were some darn good brownies. 

As some of you may know, my and Mike's co-workers and friends reap (sometimes cringe at) the benefits of all my baking experiments.  My co-workers get the Tier 1 experiments (come on, I work with a bunch of Food Scientists, some of whom have superb palates) and Mike's co-workers receive the Tier 2 experiments.  I thought that these brownies were no question in the Tier 1 category and since I made a huge pan of them, Mike's co-workers got to sample them too.

Ingredients:
1 box brownie mix (for a 9x13"pan, chose the fudgy brownie option).
--I used a cheap box of Duncan Hines Brownie Mix. The kind that sells for $1 on sale.
1 lb of dark chocolate
--I used a mixture of Dove dark chocolate promises and Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chips
~2 cups of miniature marshmallows + an extra handful if you really like marshmallows
1.5 cups of crisp rice cereal (i.e. Rice Krispies)
1/2 peanuts (optional)
-I used slightly sugared peanuts that had a candy crunch on them

Recipe:
1. Mix and make the brownie mix according to the box's chewy brownie option. I always reduce my brownie cook time because I like fudgy moist brownies instead of dry brownies. If the box says "27-30 minutes" I usually set my timer for 22 minutes and check it with a toothpick.  If the toothpick come out goopy with wet batter, keep it in longer.
2.(you can skip this step, I just did it for fun). Shut off your oven heat, and with the remaining heat, throw some marshmallows on the top of the baked brownies and let the marshmallows heat up and expand. I did this only for a couple of minutes.
3. In a double boiler, melt your chocolate. (Or you can do it the "Lauren Lazy Way" and dump the chocolate in a pot, turn the heat on to a low temperature (the lowest setting), and constantly stir the chocolate with a heat resistant spatula. 
4.  Once all the chocolate has melted, dump in the remaining marshmallows, the nuts, and the crisp rice cereal.
5. Quickly stir everything together and then gently spread it atop the baked brownie.
6. Let the brownie sit at room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator to chill (Or by a window with chilly night air blowing through it).
7. Cut the brownies up into 1-1.5" pieces and serve or package them. 

This picture does not do the brownie justice. It has a rich chocolate fudge taste and is composed of a multitude of varying textures (crunchy, chewy, soft, gooey). This recipe definitely will make it into my "must keep" recipe book. I would like to make it at least one more time to verify that it wasn't just a fluke chance that these came out tasty. 

Cooking Experiment~Loosey Goosey

Here's Mike's Experiment. This experiment was all Mike's doing.  For the longest time he has wanted to make a  "loosy goosey" "juicy lucy"  burger, which is essentially placing and sealing cheese into raw hamburger meat, and then cooking it.

Mike filled the burger with shredded sharp cheese.

We grilled onions and burgers after grilling that frozen pixzza. 

Here's the makeshift burger. I think we need to buy larger buns.

Here's a cross section cut of Mike's burger.  Look at all that oozing cheese!

Mike really enjoyed his burger and said he that he would definitely make it again. Too bad we do not cook burgers very often at home.  I think about 50% of the meals we eat at home are vegetarian. 

Cooking Experiment~Grilling Frozen Pizza

This is a cooking experiment that Michael wanted to try. Most of the experiments conducted in our kitchen are done because of my curiosity.  Okay, I take this back, I was like an older child and  planted the thought in Mike's head and convinced him that it would work.  Just like how my sister told me that if I stuck kimi balls  in my ears, it would block out sound. Or when she taught me that if I break my crayons in half, I'd have more.   
On a lazy weekend afternoon, we decided to grill a frozen self-rising pizza.  You've heard of grilling home-made pizza on a grill, but we decided, "hey, why not grill a frozen pizza on the grill?"

Think about it, a grill is essentially an outdoor oven.  Once you close the grill cover, you have an enclosed chamber of  heat.  The difference between an oven and a grill is that in an oven the heat is sourced from the roof of the oven, in a grill, the heat comes from the bottom. Hot air rises, making it a vessel to cook a pizza in.
The main difference I thought we would see is that we would not burn the top of the pizza because the grill did not contain a direct heat source above the pizza.  There was a greater chance for us to burn the crust because of the direct heat coming from the bottom of the grill.

We had to make sure that the pizza was not above a direct flame (this was Mike's brilliant thought). So we started up the grill (with the lid closed) and tried to get it as hot as possible. Once the grill was heated, we quickly placed the pizza on the side of the grill that did not have a direct flame underneath it. We shut the lid and did not open it, even to peek at the pizza. 
I think the directions on the box said to preheat the oven to 400F and bake for 22-25 minutes. We ended up grilling the pizza in about 15 minutes (that's when there was a faint burnt odor coming from the grill). 

Here's a picture of the uncooked pizza.

Here's the final product. Not bad, huh? (part of the bottom crust is burnt, but you cannot see that in the picture). Mike said that he would make this again because he liked the grilled flavor on the pizza. I liked it because 1) it prevented our apartment from heating up because of the oven heat; 2)the cook time for the pizza was faster than in our oven.

Tons of Chili

A couple of weeks ago there was a chili cook-off at my work place to help fundraiser for United Way. We were initially supposed to make 2 quarts of chili, then another email said 4 quarts.  I didn't follow a recipe, nor did I measure the ingredients that I put in.  I ended up making probably a couple of gallons of the stuff...the most chili I've made in my life. 

Here's a picture of the two chilis Mike and I made. My chili is on the right; his is on the left. I call his "man chili" because we threw in a lot of strong coffee, beer, and cocoa powder to it and it had a deep, brown(?), rounded flavor to it.  His meat to bean ratio was higher than my chili because I like a lot of beans in chili. Mike took his chili to work to share with co-workers. 
My chili had more of that typical canned chili flavor that I thought most people would like. I didn't win the competition, but I thought that my final chili came out pretty good, considering this is probably the fourth time I've made chili in my life.

Look at all the cans of tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and beans we used!

Here's a list of the ingredients that ended up in  my "no recipe chili." Ground beef, ground pork, chorizo, kidney beans, chili beans, pinto beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, chili powder, chili flakes, cumin, soy sauce (for the umami flavor), brown sugar, salt, pepper, jalapenos, bell pepper, garlic, onions, beer, coffee, cocoa powder, italian seasoning. I'm sure we put other ingredients in the chili but I forgot what else was thrown in there. 

Texas Restaurants~Bavarian Grill

Mike and I have been trying to reduce the frequency in which we eat dinners out. I personally prefer to eat home-cooked meals because we usually cook healthier meals and it's always fun to experiment and cook new dishes. We have been trying to limit our dining at restaurants to social gathering with friends or special occasions.

A few months ago Mike, a couple of friends, and I met up for dinner at the Bavarian Grill, which has received numerous awards for "Best German Restaurant."

Since I do not enjoy sausages or veal, I decided to go the Vegetarian route, and ordered the Altbayerische Gemüse Platte (Bavarian vegetable platter with our red cabbage, authentic sweet and sour sauerkraut, creamy spinach, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms and pasta dumplings).  After I ordered this dish and realized that most of the vegetables were pickled, I was not a happy camper.  In retrospect, I should have ordered a schnitzel. 

The beers the boys tried. I think the beer in the short glass is a dark ale and the other beer is a hefeweizen. 

Bayerischer "Gemischter Salat (fresh Carrots with a hint of Apple vinegar,
Green Beans with beef broth and "Bohnenkraut",Cucumber Dill, Tomato with green onions and the pickled beet salad).  This salad accompanied my friend's schnitzel. 

Schnitzel "Wiener Art"Kräuter Kartoffelsalat und gemischtem Salat (Breaded and pan-fried to a golden brown, served with warm herbed potato salad, and a mixed salad ).  I think this was the best tasting dish we ordered.

Würste mit Kräuter Kartoffelsalat und Sauerkraut (Your choice of our five sausages:
Bratwurst, Weisswurst, Knackwurst, Smoked Bratwurst or Nürnberger) served with warm herbed potato salad and sauerkraut. Mike opted to order the potato pancake instead of the warm herbed potato salad. 

A decided on a good analogy for my feelings towards German food.  Eating German food is like watching a sporting event. I will partake in the activity because I know Mike enjoys it and if I experience it multiple times, I someday might enjoy it. 

Bavarian Grill
West Parker Road
Plano, Texas 75023
(972) 881-0705

My Signaure Dish~Guacamole

    A few months ago I asked Mike what my signature dish was and he had a difficult time answering. He took the safe route and answered, "I think you're a better baker than cook."  Gee, thanks Mike. Here's my extra snooty remark, but I think I'm "above average" (at least a B average) in both the cooking and baking department.
    During my stint in culinary school, I felt that my forte was "making leftovers taste good."  In the "Intermediate Cookery" course, we rotated through different stations and the "special of the day" was one of the stations.  This involved creating dishes from the extra ingredients or foods from the "Fundamentals of Cookery" course.  Some days it would be finely diced vegetables, cooked meats, or base sauces.  I thought I excelled in creating dishes on the fly. I once made a "Hawaiian wrap" composed of kaula pork, a poi sauce, spinach, wrapped and grilled in a spinach tortilla with a lomi salmon-type salsa. 
  I'm sure Mike was sweating as I pressured him to answer my question, and the first answer that came to his mind was, "Guacamole. You make a mean guacamole." I had to hang my head and shake it in failure. What kind of wife am I?  I feed my husband good tasting guacamole. I only started making guacamole since we moved to Texas last year and avocados go on sale for 3/$1, instead of one for $1 in Illinois. 
 Yes, so according to Mike, my signature dish is a dish that always tastes different because I do not use a recipe.

Here are the ingredients to my "signature" dish:
Ripe Avocados
Finely chopped Onions
Finely chopped Garlic
Finely chopped Tomato
Finely chopped Cilantro
Juice of a lime (I like a lot of lime juice in my guac)
Salt, Pepper, Tabasco to taste

    Mike's a pretty good cook and I'm lucky to have a husband who likes spending time in the kitchen.  It's especially wonderful when I come home late from work and dinner is waiting for me.  It was easy for me to choose Mike's signature dish.  It's a good local-style fried rice.   He also makes a good spicy garlic edamame. 

What are y'alls signature dish?

Non-Food Post~My Recent Splurges

Asics Running Shoes-
I buy and wear out at least two pairs a year.  I always wait for Sports Authority BOGO1/2 off sales.  I just bought my 2011 allotment.  Asics has been my athletic shoe brand of choice for the past six years.  Love them love them love them!

Rubbermaid containers-
I once told a friend that I did not want to take his leftover snacks home in his rubbermaid container because there was a good chance that I would "forget" the container at my house...forever. He wasn't sure if I was joking or not...I wasn't quite sure either. These containers are stain-resistent (the acid in tomato sauce does not stain these containers), and have interlocking lids. We have a whole set of the first generation containers (gray covers without the swirls on the clear portion), but I added this new 9-cup container to our collection.

Gliding Discs-
I love love love these discs. They are great for lunges, ab work, and pack well (this will be perfect for all my upcoming work travel in 2011).  The Wednesday fitness class instructor knows me by name and was nice enough to buy these for me when she had free shipping. She saved me $10 in shipping costs.
 

Ipod Touch 4G-
Christmas has come early for me. I hemmed and hawed about this. Then Mike and I went to the Apple Store and played "Angry Birds" for a while. I was sold.  So if any of you out there have an ipod touch 4G or the newest iphone, we can "facetalk" or webcam. 

***No, I wasn't endorsed or do I work for any of these companies. I just think that these companies sell some really good products.