Stacerella

It’s been two weeks since I last blogged. In that time, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving and my husband’s birthday. I have photos on the HD Flip as well as on the new digital camera he won from one of our suppliers, but I haven’t had time to process them. I have some photos (I think) of the delicious dinner rolls I made for our Thanksgiving dinner with Joe’s side of the family. When I get some time this weekend, I will throw them up here along with the shots of the roasted vegetables I brought to dinner that night.

And when I haven’t been cooking and/or baking, I have been consumed with cutting up video footage to make my brother some kick-ass how-to cooking DVDs. And last night I took an hour out to make a tribute photo montage video for the first anniversary of my nephew’s passing at the cruel hands of cancer. So, yeah… I’m bit all over the map these days.

Bare with me, everyone. Tomorrow is a very tough day I need to get over. I will see what I can do for you all after that.

Jerk Chicken Frittatta - Joe loved this. He has already requested I make this often.

Detail shot of the pasta, chicken, prosciutto and egg mixture with its lovely golden cheese top.

Tiramisu. Delicious, decadent and way too fattening for us, but what the hell, right?

A fuzzy detail show of the lady fingers and cream layers with cocoa topping. Brilliant dessert!

[ Flickr photo link for more recipe details ]

Here are a few of the baked goods my stoopid oven decided to co-operate with me on this Christmas. From top left down: Mint brownies (otherwise known as Grasshoppers), s’mores brownies, and various butter cookies with ganache and crushed toppings like candy cane, pistachios and flaked coconut.

Like little birds nests, one egg yolk rests inside a nest of spinach, ricotta cheese, bacon, mozzarella cheese and salt, wrapped up in fresh homemade pasta sheets and gently placed in rolling water to cook for 2 minutes (for soft, runny centres).

Simple, tasty and somewhat fast once you have the pasta and nest filling made. Make a great appetizer or interesting breakfast choice. I would recommend this recipe.

I used the leftover pasta dough I had from the homemade tortelloni I made the other day. It works nicely for this recipe as well.

Remember to send the sheets through the roller at their thinnest setting for at least three to five passes to make it as thin as possible. It won’t tear — trust me on this — but it will make for a great al dente pasta when doubled up and cooked for the right amount of time.

Getting lots of search hits for the Acorn Cakelet pan from Williams-Sonoma; specifically for recipes to use with it.

I tried a few different types of cake mixes, from scratch and from a box, and in my experience the only ones that work best are dense cakes like sponge cake recipes. Flavour doesn’t matter, the density of the mixture does.

Someone also mentioned in their review using bread mix in this pan. There are many interesting and versatile uses for this pan as long as you put your creativity hat on and are open to trying new things in your kitchen.

One reviewer said she, “Plan(s) on using my pan for cornbread, brownies and small stuffing acorns w/my turkey.” Those are some terrific ideas for this pan. Talk about thinking outside the die-cast mould! I will have to try them all myself to see if they work out well. 

Hope that helps all of you.