doh.

I made a bunch of dough this Sunday. See the results below.



I also made scones. They were delicious. And here is the recipe, straight from everybodylikessandwiches.com:


fruit scones
1/2 c milk
1 egg
2 c flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1/4 c cold butter, cubed
3 T white sugar
2 large handfuls of frozen blackberries

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk the milk and the egg together until frothy and then set aside. In a large bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and blend the mixture with your hands until you have no lumps larger than a pea. Add the sugar and the blackberries and toss about until the blackberries are coated with the flour mixture. Add the egg mixture slowly until the dough comes together. Leave any remaining egg mixture to brush on as glaze.

2. Turn dough out onto a clean counter and knead it no more than 12 times. Pat dough into a round approximately 1/2 an inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges with remaining egg mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.


I added an extra tablespoon of sugar and substituted fresh strawberries instead of frozen blackberries. Very good. I think I'll go eat the last one right now. MMMmmm. Butterfloursugar.

Avoiding FAIL.

About a month ago I tried to make chicken stock using a chicken I had stuffed with lemons and limes. Unfortunately, I didn't take the citrus fruits out of the carcass, and no matter what I added to the broth (mushroom soup, dumplings), it came out tasting like bitter lemonade poured on top of a chicken sandwich. Not exactly the cozy and soothing dinner I was looking for, but Tim suffered through half a bowl to make me feel better.

Yesterday Tim spent 14 hours on a train returning from Fargo, so I decided to pick up another chicken and have a nice homey meal waiting for him. I also made a box yellow cake (which looks a little weird, I don't think I mixed it enough) to really top off the whole thing, and also to help me sooth my crippling sweet tooth.

A dinner of roast chicken and sweet potato fries was just what the doctor ordered. And this morning I hopped out of bed and walked to Tony's Finer Foods with visions of baking and cooking all day long while Tim is teaching kids to play Smoke on the Water in South Chicago. The list includes:

1. Chocolate frosting for the yellow cake that I didn't mix enough and looks a little oily on the top.
2. Banana bread
3. Chicken stock
4. Chocolate Cherry cookies
5. Coffee Crisp cookies
6. Smell my kitchen.

I used the chicken stock directions from Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and my kitchen already smells AWESOME. I stripped the chicken bones, salvaged some chicken skin, dumped in a left over bag of baby carrots, the bottoms of two leeks, a whole onion with the skin, and three cloves of garlic. Also, some rosemary, peppercorns, and one bay leaf, my magic ingredient for soup.



Other than that, 1, 2, and 6 are all in the works. I already had an epic FAIL with the chocolate frosting. The recipe I was using to me to: bring 1/4 c. milk, 1/4 c. margarine, and 1 cup sugar to boil. Boil for exactly one minute. Remove from heat and add 1 c. chocolate chips; stir until melted.

Unfortunately, I lost the recipe and used the one in my head, which instructed me to add 1 c. milk instead of 1/4 c. Now I have an awesome sugary mixture that will probably be used for making cocoa with all the milk left in our fridge. OR we could use the milk AND some hazelnut liquor. Mmmmm. Right on.

Update: Cherry Cookies and finished chicken stock.

recovering from panic.

okay. when tim and i had to take compatibility tests/surveys before we got married by the Lutheran church, the paster informed me that my self-confidence was "off the charts." on tuesday, it was also off the charts, but in the opposite direction.

however, my heart and head are better, and it all started with liz and catharine visiting.

basically, i spent the past few mornings working and the afternoons shopping and reading, and the evenings eating and watching tv. we were wild and crazy! in bed by midnight with a novel every night for the three of us crazy cooks.

and today i expect to get my new camera in the mail, and tim is expecting his new compooter. my optimism is back, and here is the reason.

during our first afternoon of shopping, i was in the car with liz and catharine and said, "hmmm...should we go out for dinner tonight or what? cause there's a great grocery store in this neighborhood so we could pick up something and cook at home?..."

and liz says something out of the side of her mouth that sounds like "oil can."

so i says, "what?"

and she says "deli roll."

here is the story on this magical treat: long ago and far away on the meberg family farm, my mom decided to use her delicious pizza dough on a new recipe from the back of country living, or something equally claudia-ish. and so the family feasted for years on the delicious 'deli roll,' which is basically a thin pizza rolled, baked, and then sliced like a jelly roll. insides can contain anything from pepperoni (my favorite), to mushrooms, canadian bacon and pineapple, whatever the heart desires.

my friend liz is the type of person that labels her one piece of cookware "the mac and cheese pot." and she's talking about kraft, just to squelch any ideas that north dakotans ever make real mac and cheese. but she has an uncanny ability to make friends with people who do like to cook and bake. so she has on several occasions enjoyed thee meberg family deli roll.

but when i was making the pizza dough at home with catharine and liz, the dough was kinda tough, and i was really nervous about the pizza dough being the second act to my sunken poppyseed cakes, the mustard seed that moved my fear of failure mountain. so i was nervous.

BUT IT TURNED OUT OKAY! the dough raised without me setting the kitchen on fire (which has been known to happen), and the middle was nice and cooked through, a common mistake with the deli roll. just like the last five times liz has enjoyed this tasty meal, she voiced an immediate need to change into elastic banded pants.

so once again, my confidence was regained. okay. if i can bake successfully, i can finish a two-year internship, start a new job, write two research papers, find an apartment in Chicago, complete my career wardrobe, and move a two-bedroom from Cincinnati to the windy city by the lake.

maybe i should be baking more.