Handmade recipe book.

Kickstarter Handmade Recipe Book
 So this is the link so you can go pledge and help me get all these recipes into cute little handmade and handcrafted books. You can still come see me here, and use whatever recipes you like. :) But now youll have somewhere to put them. So please, even if its only $1, it will ALL help. the sad news is that if i dont make the goal, i dont get anything (see, that made you sad too, didnt it). So go support me and my crazy creative designs!!!! Thanks!

Pizza for dinner. not my recipe, but so good i have to share!

the house smelled amazing while i was making the dough yesterday. in fact,i think ill start making the dough everyday, just for the smell. mmmmm. here is the link for the recipe i use (it also has a giveaway for a kitchenaid stand mixer, which is how i cam accross the site, and if you dot care to ente for yourself, you should totally enter one for me!)
http://eclecticrecipes.com/homemade-pizza-crust-3-ways-and-a-kitchenaid-stand-mixer-giveaway
(btw i used the butter and herb crust recipe) and since i dont have a fancy stand mixer, i used my ood processor, which was a mess... DONT use your food processor. i suggest doing it by hand the good old fashion way if you dont have the fancy tools.
oh and for the sauce, i used my own personal recipe. because its so yummy i could eat it out of the jar. http://cookingcraftingmama.blogspot.com/2012/04/amazing-spaghetti-or-marinara-or-pizza.html

Butter Herb, Basil Cheese Stuffed and Rosemary Garlic Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
3 - 4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 package, or 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

For the Butter Herb Crust:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and rosemary), or 1 tablespoon fresh

For the Basil Stuffed Cheese Crust:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil, or 1 tablespoon fresh
about 6 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, torn in half lengthwise

For the Rosemary Garlic Crust:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, or 1 tablespoon fresh

Directions:

Combine warm water, yeast, honey, salt, onion and garlic powder in your stand mixer. Mix until yeast dissolves. Add herbs (Italian blend, basil or rosemary) and butter or olive oil. Turn mixer to low and add flour until dough starts to pull away from bowl. Knead for about 10 minutes. Dough should be sticky and smooth. Grease a large metal bowl with olive oil. Form dough into a ball and transfer to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise about 2 hours in a warm place, or until dough doubles in size. Punch down, from into a ball again and let rise again until it doubles in size.
Preheat oven to it's highest temperature. For thin crust, divide dough in half and roll out pizza crust to the size of pizza pan or stone. For a thicker, traditional crust use all the dough and stretch out with hands and roll until it's the size of a large pizza pan.
If you are stuffing the crust, place the string along the edges of the crust and roll the crust over the cheese, and seal the dough.
Pre-bake crust in oven set at it's highest baking temperature (mine is 550°) until crust is lightly golden. Remove crust from oven.
Spoon over pizza sauce (I use either a quality jarred pizza sauce or homemade). Layer cheese and your favorite toppings.
Bake pizza again at your oven's highest temperature until cheese is lightly browned.
Brush pizza crust with olive oil or butter after baking if desired.


*i also tried using the broiler to bake the cheese on the second pizza... also NOT a good idea. although it did in fact brown the cheese, it blackened the crust. hmm, fail. so stick to the instructions. sometimes it just works out better for you that way(and ill prob never admit that again)
really great flavor and im telling you, the smell is heavenly.

Crispy Fries (Not Mcdonalds... but it'll do in a fix!)

So I set out to make some super scrumdeliuptious McDonald's wannabee fries, while it didn't turn out that way, they DID turn out quite tasty. Hubby approved.

You re gonna need:

6-8 med sized russet potatoes
  *here's why, were cutting these long ways, i tried all the different sizes and cut it different ways the med sized ones really were the best ones to use. (small= mashed pot, med = this recipe, lg= baked potatoes) moving on...

1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Corn Syrup
3 Cups HOT water
1/4 Cup white vinegar
1 tbs Salt (plus extra for salting fries, I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt though)

Add Sugar and Corn Syrup in a Big 'Ol Pot (mines 8 qts, and it worked well). Add 3 Cups HOT water and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Wash potatoes. Working with one at a time (so they don't turn brown) peel and cut in half length wise. Cut into about 1/4"x1/4" strips. Mine were far from perfect to say the least. But you do want them thin to cook nice and crispy. Put slices of potato into pot of sugar water. Repeat with rest of potatoes. Let soak about 20 min.

Preheat Fryer to 375 degrees

Fill the pot up to about 4" below lip with water, DO NOT drain sugar water.  Add vinegar and salt. Turn up to high to boil. Once boiling, cook for about 10-12 min. You want them soft, but not falling apart.

Drain potatoes on paper towel lined baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

Drop about 2 handfuls at a time of potatoes into fryer (that should be hot by now, if not, then wait until it gets to 375). Be careful, once those potatoes hit the fryer it'll bubble a lot. Fry for 2.5 min. Drain on paper towel lined baking sheet. Continue to do this until all fries are "blanched". Fries will be smooshy. Let them to cool to room temp, about 20 min.

Put all fries into a gallon size Ziploc bag and toss in the freezer for a few hours (or overnight).

When ready to use, preheat the fryer to 375. Drop fries in a handful or 2 at a time. Fry for about 3-5 min until they turn golden. Drain on paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt (or Lawry's). Serve immediately...ie HOT!

(by the way, fries will stay good for about 2 months in the freezer, but trust me, they wont last that long.)

Onion Rings that are the GREATEST

let me start this off by saying the main course was BBQ beef brisket sandwiches for dinner... which were good and all. But oh, the onion rings.... Good Lord:

Grab 2 med sized bowls (not cereal bowls which is what i started out with, not enough mess room)
1 or 2 sweet yellow onions
about 1 cup  Self Rising Flour
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Miller Lite  (or other beer left in your fridge form super bowl that you cant drink, and so far haven't been able to pass off to anyone else either... that says something miller, just sayin)
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt
 pinch Garlic Powder
Deep fryer with veg oil/shortening/etc...

In one bowl put about 1/3 cup self rising flour. add 1/2 cup buttermilk. mix well with a fork and let sit about 5 min (or while your cutting up your onion into cut little delectable rings)

Cut up onions and punch out rings. Toss in buttermilk mixture, coat the onions well. Let sit about 20 min or so. Let fryer heat up during this time to 375 degrees.

In another bowl add rest of flour (about 2/3 cup) 1 cup miller lite, paprika, s & p and garlic powder. Mix well, let it "fizzle", set aside for about 5 min. It shouldn't be too soupy, almost "pasty like" looking. if not, add a bit more flour.
(((I didn't measure this stuff out, i just eyeballed it when I made it. I promise next time I will and Ill come back and diligently fix all my "ish-es".)))

Once oil is hot, take onion ring out of buttermilk batter and coat well in the beer batter. Drop carefully into the fryer (NOTE* if you have a basket, take it out, the batter sticks to the basket, the onion rings will get stuck on the bottom) Only do about 5 at a time, so they aren't touching when in the fryer. Cook about 2-3 min, turning once, until a golden brown. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and serve HOT!

These are the ugly ones left over after dinner, they all got eaten up quickly!

By the way I also made fresh fries, and I DID copy down to measurements for those... so check out that blog too. coming soon ;)

Chicken and Cheese Raviolis with Marinara Sauce and Fresh Herb Cheese

I didn't get a lot of pictures of these through out the process, because I decided halfway through that it actually looked good, and edible. This was a complete practise run. All my measurements are in "ish" format. I may even leave out an ingredient or two because I was winging it. However, I had to share because they were pretty darn yummy.
I used my sauce recipe:
 http://cookingcraftingmama.blogspot.com/2012/04/amazing-spaghetti-or-marinara-or-pizza.html

I made my own noodles..I started out with about 5(remember this is a big ISH here...) cups of flour. Then i put about 1/2 tsp salt in there. Then I cracked 6 eggs and about 1 tbs olive oil. I mixed the mush mess with my hands until i could do no more... then I begged my husband to add about a tbs more oil and about 3 tbs water.(my hands were messy and i couldn't pull it free from the dough) i took out the glob and started kneading in on a floured surface until it resembled more dough-like. still really tough. I kept kneading until smooth. Then I put a couple tbs of olive oil in a bowl and slapped the dough ball in there, covered it with a tea towel and left in alone for a good 45 min. In the meantime, I started my sauce ^. I also made the marinade for the chicken breast.

I put 2 chicken breast in a zip lock bag with a few tbs of olive oil(i really like this stuff, can you tell?!?) about 2 tbs of fresh chopped basil. dash of red pepper flakes, some oregano, Rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper... hmmm, i think that was it. toss it back in the fridge for another hour or so. Then I made the amazing cheese inside stuffing

I took about a cup of Parmesan cheese and about 2 cups of mozzarella cheese(OK maybe double that amount... ish-ing again) added about 3 tbs fresh chopped basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano and threw in some red pepper flakes(just a pinch, not too many) I put all of this into the food processor and let it go until it all resembled a Parmesan like crumble. after a while the moisture form the mozz makes it all kind of clump together... its OK. were squishing it into raviolis, remember? that is, if it makes it that far, because personally, between me and the baby taking a pinch here and there... well there was just enough left to make dinner by the time it came to stuffing.

Take the chicken out of the fridge and cook it until done in a pan on the stove. Chop up into small pieces.

Roll the dough out thin, about 1/4" and cut into strips around 3-4" wide and 12-15" long. start putting the cheese and chicken in spoonful amounts on one of the strips of dough. when done cover all of it with another strip of dough and push down all around the edges where the stuffing is to keep it all in. then use a sharp knife and cut each into squares. pick each one up, pinch tighter around the edges and cut off excess. set on a plate and let dry for about an hr before cooking.

In a boiling salted pot of water cook the raviolis, don't over crowd the pot. pay close attention to noodles, they will cook in about 5 minutes. Drain well.






















Serve with marinara over the top and any remaining cheese, or simply Parmesan. Deliciouso!





And here is my tub of lard carring a tub of Lard, shes so helpful!

Scotts Street Carne Asada Tacos

Im quite sure Im missing sitting in Rocky Point (or Baja California, watchng the races) Mexico with a Sol in one hand and a carne asada taco in the other(as well as 2 more in my lap waiting to be eaten).  Or it could just be an insanly intense craving(hormones??) for real, REAL street carne asada tacos. Like the ones from the little carts that just steam constantly and all you smell is the meat when you walk by. MMMM, just thinking about it is making my mouth water. Either way, I NEED them, like now. So after looking at tons of recipes online and just not knowng what else to do, I went to the "source". Scott took me to my first Baja Races. I remember the trip well. (We counted abandoned and blown up cars in the LONG stretch of sandy dessert to pass the time. Im talking Hours at a time people).

Here is my Desperate plea to Scott on FB:
ok so lately ive been craving real carne asada street tacos(like the ones most likely made of cats and dogs) ive tried 2 recipes so far claiming to be "authentic" and one i couldnt even eat. freaking yuck. i was hopeing and praying and all that other fun stuff that you could use your resources to find me a REAL carne asada street taco recipe, preferably from one that doesnt speak english and has to have it translated. lol. please!!!! i promise to make you some next time im on that side of the world!

And here is his very rapid responce(He rocks):
So you want to buy flank steak,  say a pound of it,sliced it in thin strips about 1/4" thick and 2"wide, chop up some cilantro,(small hand full)
some salt ,pepper,tablespoon of lemon or lime juice a little Orange juice from the jug, tbsp.of crushed red pepper ,teaspoon of chili powder,teaspoon of paprika, good size pinch of garlic salt.
Put it all in a zip lock back and let it marinade for a day or so then either bbq it on a hot grill or cut it up and cook it in a skillet in its own juices with lid on medium heat .
It won't lake to long to cook it because lemon and oj will do most of the cooking while it marinades..
Also get some cotija cheeze and put it in a blender to grind it super fine to put on the tacos..mmmmmmm


So, needless to say,  I will most definetly be having these this week. Ill post pics.


*******************************************************************************

UPDATE: Here is the exact(ish) measurments I used to make the marinade... since what I got was a little vague, and I want you all to be able to repeat what I did when it turns out amazing.

Stuff:
1.5-2 Lbs Flank Steak
2 Tbs Fresh finely chopped Cilantro
1 1/2 Tsp. finely chopped Garlic (about a med sized clove)
1 chopped White Onion(or yellow)
1 Tbs Crushed Red Pepper
1 Tsp. Pepper
1 Tsp. Paprika
1 Tsp. Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 Tsp Cumin
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
2 Cups. Orange Juice (from the Jug)

Cut the Flank steak into somewhat thin strips, spo it marinates well and really gets into the meat. Toss it into a large ziplock bag. Add seasonings, ending with lomon juice and OJ. Squeeze out all the air from bag. Shake vigorously to mix well and smoosh(<technical term) into the meat. Now put it in the fridge for 24 to however many hours. A couple days seems to be the best from what Ive heard because the acid from the juices really tenderizes the meat.

Tomorrow Ill be cooking, but in case you wanted to have this for dinner tomorrow to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, I figured I'd write all the good stuff down so you too, can marinate your steak tonight.

So heres the end result. It was AMAZING!

I never did get a picture of a complete taco or setup... they were eaten, like with the quickness...

homemade flour tortillas, salsa and guac.