We are so excited!!!

Um... The Baltimore Sun mentioned us on the Your Voices  Page. It is a list of local blogs. We are fucking psyched. There was screaming, giggling, bad dancing, and lots of smiles. So thanks for the shout out Baltimore Sun!

Vanilla

You know what you should do (besides officially following our blog. Let your love for us be known!)? YOU should make your own Vanilla.
1. Super Easy!
2. Cheap (in the long run)
3. Yummy

Easy: For every 1 cup of alcohol use 3 split vanilla beans. *The end should stay attached.* You can use any glass container. I used a glass bottle with a swing top. You can use any alcohol. I used 1 cup of Vodka and 1 cup of Bourbon. Keep it in a cool dark place for at least a month and then go to town. Give it a shake once a week.
Cheap: After you blow the first $30 dollars, You just add alcohol to the beans. I am sure you have something in your house. You can do this for up to 7 years. (seriously)
Yummy: A lot of commercial Vanilla has added water or even worse caramel color (yuck). This is the real deal. It gives you a lot of bang for your buck.


So, do it.

My cost
$ 4.99 for the bottle  
$ 15 for 6 Vanilla Beans
$ 20 for liquor 
*I got my stuff at local shops, but if you are feeling lazy surf the web!

Shout Outs!

So I am sending a Birthday Shout to 3 of the 4 contributers of the PARTY in My Tummy BLOG.  These lovely ladies all have Birthday's in the Month of November!!!!!  A Special Shout out to the 1/2 birthday of the other Contributer! Whooooo Hoooo!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all!!!!

Pretzel Bread Appetizers ( From September)

Hi everybody! (in my Dr. Nick voice) Did you miss me? Probably not, either way I am still cooking but life started to pick up so writing decreased. I know. I know. Excuses Excuses. Either way I have made quite a few tasty items (Cilantro-Lime Chicken, Cognac Cupcakes, and Chocolate Icing, etc.) but I did not take a lot of pictures. So the coolest thing I have made was my Pretzel Bread Appetizer. This is a quick appetizer that takes 5 minutes to make and 5-8 minutes to bake.

Recipe



1. Pretzel Bread

2. Olive Oil

3. Red Pepper and Cheese Spread

4. Italian Blend Cheese



Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2. First I brought some Pretzel Bread at Giant (you can also use Asiago cheese bread from Panera or just plain French bread). I sliced the bread into equal slices (about 7/8 “to 1” thick) I didn’t measure the bread.

3. Next gently brush a thin layer of Olive Oil over each piece of Bread.

4. Spread about a teaspoon of Roasted Red Pepper & Cheese Spread ( From Harry and David)

5. Sprinkle some Italian Blend Cheese on each Bread Spread mix.

6. Bake until cheese is melted than serve.

The reason I love this appetizer is it took less than $10 to make and less than 10 mins to make. In addition, my little cousins devoured them. I wonder did they devour them because they were good or because it was cooked food within 500 feet of their presence.

Until Next time,

Deaverster

Bake a Cake! Apple Spice cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

You should bake this cake. Why? Because it is:

1. Easy
2. Yummy

I found this recipe on Lick the Bowl Good. It is a perfect fall cake, and the recipe is good for small families.
( originally adapted from The Cake Book then further adapted by me)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cardamom
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups Gala apples, peeled and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

First you need to read the ingredient list and make sure you have everything.
Second read the whole recipe beginning to end so you know what you are doing, when you are doing it.
Everything goes better if everything is at room temperature, so get all the cold ingredients out and let them come up to temperature.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F. Grease and Flour and 9x5 loaf pan. Get together the first 8 ingredients (all the dry shit) and whisk it together in a bowl (duh). Peel (or don't, I did) your apple. Chop your nuts. Get a second bowl and a hand mixer or a stand mixer and whip that butter. While your butter is getting all big and fluffy measure out the buttermilk, and the brown sugar. Get your sugar in the butter once the butter in FLUFFY. Then get those two fluffy together. Next add one room temperature egg (cause you did what I said and got your shit out early), mix it in, add the other, mix it in, and add vanilla.

Now you need to add in your dry ingredients and the buttermilk, alternately. So you start and end with dry every time you bake a cake.
Use a spatula to stir in your nuts and apple chunks. Put your super yummy batter (it smells good don't it, go ahead and taste a little) in the loaf pan and bake it up for about 30 minutes.

Take it out of the oven when it is done.
Make your Frosting!

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon maple flavoring or 1 Tbsp. real maple syrup (you better use real)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Whip your ROOM TEMPERATURE cream cheese and butter until it is...FLUFFY!
Add Vanilla, Grade B real Maple syrup, spices, and salt. Lastly add your powdered sugar.

Aunt Jemima Can Suck It!

I will never understand why people waste their money on boxed pancake mix for the purpose of making pancakes only. Most of you probably buy a box of it, sit it way in the back of your cupboard, and completely forget it’s there until that one random day comes that you want some pancakes. It is so simple and easy to make them with ingredients you already have lying around in your kitchen. There are tons of different recipes out there for making awesome pancakes that you should never find the need to buy this stuff. Since today I’m off of work and in need of a tasty breakfast I’m going to share with you one of my favorite pancake recipes that I have been whipping out since I was little. You can find the same variation of this recipe here, but for the sake of time I will help you skip a click and add it below (less a few of my secrets) for you to try on your own.

Ingredients

· 3/4 cup milk

· 2 tablespoons white vinegar

· 1 cup all-purpose flour

· 2 tablespoons white sugar

· 1 teaspoon baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 1 egg

· 2 tablespoons butter, melted

· cooking spray

Recipe on the site says is serves 8 but I always get a serving of 4 out of this.

Directions

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

First you want to start heating your griddle. I use a good old fashion cast iron pan when making pancakes, but go with whatever works for you. When using a cast iron keep a close eye on your pan. Cast iron tends to heat up fast and retain more heat than an everyday pan. You can easily burn your pancakes (like I did my first one) if you do not pay attention. I also like to pre-oil my pan with a tiny bit of vegetable oil or cooking spray to coat the pan during the heating process and before I start cooking. If you’re like me and you add butter to your pan for pancakes this helps to keep the butter from burning.

The next step is to sour the milk. Do not be afraid of this term your pancakes will in no way taste like gross 5 month old milk. (Unless for some silly reason you decide to actually use 5 month old milk, and in that case I have no way of saving you.) Also, this version of sour milk is just a substitute to buttermilk. In a small bowl just pour your required amount of milk in with the vinegar. Mix it a little and set it to the side for five minutes. You will see that your milk has become a little thick don’t be alarmed this is what helps makes your pancakes nice and fluffy at the end. While that sits start to combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.

(Tip: Now this is completely up to you, but for an extra light mixture I like to sift my dry ingredients together before adding the wet. It helps to lighten the final product and to combine the ingredients a bit better than just taking a quick stir. For the sake of sticking to the recipe I did not sift my dry ingredients while making this particular batch and this is not something that has to be done.)

When that’s done combine your melted butter and your eggs with the sour milk, give it a quick whisk. Next pour your wet mixture into your dry ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

(Tip: Do not go overboard with your mixing. The recipe calls for mixing until the lumps are gone, but I like to very lightly mix until the wet and dry are just combined. Over mixing will give you a tough pancake.)

Place a nice slice of butter on your griddle and then pour some of the mixture into the pan. You will need a spoon or a cup for this because the mixture will be thick. If you’re overly anal about making the perfect pancake circle you can spread the mixture out in the pan with the back of a spoon. (You only have a 5 sec window in which to do this.) Or you could buy one of those fancy smancy pancake rings. After that LEAVE IT ALONE!!! Leave it!! … ah I see you glancing at it. Don’t you move that thing until bubbles start to appear on the surface. Once that happens then you can flip it with a spatula and wait until the other side is golden brown.

Now take a look at what you’ve done. Pro-style pancakes with no silly add water only box in sight. Pancakes so good I guarantee they will have that special someone you’ve been looking at begging to stay over at your house every night. Next thing you know that punk will be moving in, leaving socks on the floor, and stealing your last cup of pudding… Oh I got off track didn’t I? Anyway, this recipe can be changed to suit your taste with just a few extra ingredients as seen below.

I see you eyeing my container of hot chocolate and you’re probably asking yourself why the hell this chick is suggesting hot chocolate for pancakes. Hmm…. Well that’s one of my little secrets and I’m not sharing. ^_^ Hope this helps you stay away from that pancake mix box.

(Small print: Shellby actually does suggest using pancake mix for other quick recipes just not for pancakes.)

Baltimore Beer Week!

Baltimore Beer Week is coming up in 3 days!

Here is the link for more info:

http://www.baltimorebeerweek.com