Recipe 55: Okra and Carrot Fried Rice

Back in August I made fried rice for the first time ever. I did it with carrots and okra. I turned out pretty tasty, although I do not think I cooked it long enough or right to make it actually fried rice.

Recipe 54: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies back in August. I have made Oatmeal Raisin cookies before, but never have done it with chocolate chips in them as well. They turned out pretty tasty, especially since I used dark chocolate chips. I think I even did it with a vegan recipe, but I cannot remember on this one. I might have used real eggs, but I kind of think I gave flax another chance and it redeemed itself and proved that it was the bananas and not the flax that messed up my Peanut Butter Banana Muffins.

Recipe 53: Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Broccoli

This is a recipe I made back in August. Just simple pasta with alfredo sauce and broccoli. Nothing special, but first time I have done this combination.

Recipe 52: Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Scones

I think I followed a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking for this. I made it back in July, so I kind of forget the details. I think the recipe was for just chocolate chip scones. I modified it by adding the peanut butter chips. These ended up being quite tasty and pretty easy to make.

Recipe 51: Margarita Cupcakes

I got a new cupcake book (my previous one had been ruined a few years ago) back in July and the first recipe I tried was the Margarita Cupcakes. I am tempted to split it into two recipes, as I am so behind on my goal and it was a different batter and frosting recipe for me, but I will keep it as just one recipe. The main reason I am keeping them together is that they stunk.

I kind of think it might have been the tequila in the frosting, but that does not explain the cupcakes themselves not being that great in cupcake consistency. Kind of made me unsure of trying the other recipes in the book, but I will eventually get around to some as they do sound good. I did at least learn how to make my own colored sprinkles with food coloring and granulated sugar from doing this cupcake recipe.

Recipe 50: Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

Back in July I made a spring roll dipping sauce to go with some rolls I had bought frozen. I followed this recipe I found online, although I do not think I put the corn starch in it. It was simple and easy, although the corn starch would be good for a not so runny sauce I ended up with, but that did not bother me.

Recipe 49: 4th of July Cookies

For the 4th of July I tried some different cookie decorating techniques. I used some stencils to make designs with sprinkles. I also used spray bottle style icing. Note that some of the cookies in the photos were actually my bro's designs, but they are kind of obvious being the more messier looking ones related to being his first experience with icing and having a more abstract art style anyways.

Recipe 48: Omelette

Another basic thing that I made for the first time on my own back in July. Pretty simple, but I still am not much of an egg person and not likely to make omelettes very often. I would rather just do simple scrambled eggs in the microwave (hate cleaning the frying pan).

Recipe 47: Grilled Cheese with Dijon Mustard

I made my first grilled cheese the end of June. I made them with dijon mustard. Since then it has become almost a weekly thing I make including one of the things I made for the 4th of July.

Recipe 46: Scrambled Eggs

Okay, so this is kind of stretching it, but really I never had made scrambled eggs in an actual pan until late June 2010. Sure I had made them in the microwave before, but that is not for real. Also, did not take a pic, but I still am counting it as a first attempt at a new thing to help me try to get 100 new to me recipes this year.

Recipe 45: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back in June I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies using a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. They ended up very delicious. I had never thought of putting chocolate chips in peanut butter cookies before and they really do go together nicely. I was pleased with these ending up nice and soft and chewy, which is how I like my cookies.

Recipe 44: Lemon Hard Candy

Back in mid June I attempted to make hard candy. I used a recipe from the back of the murder mystery book, Candy Apple Dead by Sammi Carter. The result of my attempt was flexible hard candy. It just did not end up hardening. I think it is because my candy thermometer is off and I did not boil the mixture quite long enough. It still tasted good, but it was kind of hard to make into pieces and really enjoy, so it mostly ended up in the trash.

Recipe 43: Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

This recipe ended up a disaster and hence kind of ended my muffin making streak in June. They tasted okay, but after a day they were very rancid tasting. Only odd thing I used was using flax to replace the eggs as the container said. It might have been the bananas were already too ripe, but I kind of doubt that. Even if it was the flax that messed up the muffins I do not think they would have been all that great when the peanut butter was too minimal flavor compared to the awesome Peanut Butter muffins, which still could use a little more peanut butter flavor.

Recipe 42: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins were the second in my little groove of muffin making in June. They were not as good as the Peanut Butter muffins, but they were still pretty tasty. I used a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook for these and was quite happy with the results. I do not know if I will make these again, though, as bananas in our household rarely last long enough to be good for baking and the peanut butter muffins are my favorite to make instead.

Recipe 41: Peanut Butter Muffins

I really need to catch up on this blog. At least I am only a little behind on the 100 recipe goal, as I just made recipe 52 today. The Peanut Butter Muffins were my first try at making muffins from scratch.

The peanut butter muffins turned out to be quite delicious. The kids I nanny for loved them. I have not gotten around to making them again, as I experimented with some other muffin recipes, but this is now my favorite muffin and I am thinking of making the, as cupcakes with jelly frosting and calling that another recipe towards my goal (the frosting part will at least be new to me).

By the way I followed this recipe. I used some of the suggestions in the reviews, though, such as lemon juice instead of cream of tartar and used oil and applesauce. I also used less sugar than called for.

Recipe 40: Pasta with Ginger Oil, Dill, and Cheese

Back in May I was bored and decided to make a random pasta recipe with what was in the kitchen. It ended up being quite tasty, although kind of odd. I simply made the pasta (cool flower looking pasta) and tossed in some shredded cheese (Mexican blend by the way), a little bit of ginger oil, and dill. So simple, yet so tasty, too. Just one of many ways to upgrade mac and cheese.

Recipe 39: Crab Cream Puffs

Finally I am into the recipes I made in May. For the Crab Cream Puffs I used the eclairs recipe I learned from the Baking Boot Camp to make the puffs. I found the Crab filling recipe online here. They turned out pretty tasty, although piping the crab filling is kind of hard because it is thicker than the normal cream puff filling. I will definitely be making this again and in fact probably this week.

Recipe 38: Garam Masala Spiced Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is the last thing I made at the herb and spice cooking class back in April. It was a really tasty cake. I might make it again in the future, but I still am not a big fan of cakes.

Recipe 37: Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto

This is another sauce I made in the Herb and Spice class back in April. I never have been much of a fan of cilantro, but this was actually not too bad tasting. Not sure I would make it again, though, as I really do not know what I would use pesto with.

Recipe 36: Tarragon Aioli

The Tarragon Aioli (stuff on left in photo) is one of the things I made in the Herb and Spice Class I took back in April. It was pretty good with the Shrimp Fritters as well as not too hard to make. I just do not often make stuff to that aioli would be useful to go with.

Recipe 35: Shrimp Fritters

I am still catching up on recipes from April. The Shrimp Fritters was one of the things I made in a herb and spice cooking class I also took at the store in Chicago. The Shrimp Fritters were pretty good, but they seemed to take forever to fry.

Recipe 34: Blueberry Chocolate Tart

This is the final thing I made at Baking Boot Camp back in April. The Blueberry Chocolate Tart was fancy than my Fruit Tart I made earlier that month on my own. The chocolate tart was actually way better tasting, too, as well as being just about as easy. Only thing is that I am not convinced on the whole making your own pie crust. Too much work and not enough improvement in taste for me to care. Then again I am not much of a fan of the crust and care more about the filling anyways.

Recipe 33: Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Raspberry Linzer Cookies was another thing I made for the first time at Baking Boot Camp back in April. They look fancy, but at actually quite easy. You just need the right cookie cutters to make the window parts. I might make these again, but I first have to get some cookie cutters. Then again I might not, as I really am not big into rolling out cookies and cutting them with cookie cutters. If I make shapes I usually just mold it with my hands, such as I did with the Olympic Cookies back in February.

Recipe 32: Caramel Hazelnut Devil’s Food Cake

Recipe 32: Caramel Hazelnut Devil’s Food Cake
Originally uploaded by kjscrafts

At Baking Boot Camp in April we made a Devil's Food cake. The between layers was supposed to be a chocolate caramel, but we skipped the chocolate and left it as just caramel because the cake already has more than enough chocolate. It was still too much chocolate for me, as I am not much into chocolate, but the caramel made it better.

Recipe 31: Almond Croissants

Recipe 29: Croissant
Originally uploaded by kjscrafts

One of the varieties of croissants I made at Baking Boot Camp back in April was ones with almond paste filling. They were pretty tasty and the filling part is easy to make. It is the long process of the croissant dough itself that is the off putting part.

Recipe 30: Chocolate Croissant

Recipe 30: Chocolate Croissant
Originally uploaded by kjscrafts

One of the varieties of croissants I made at Baking Bootcamp is Chocolate Croissants. It was really good to put dark chocolate in them. While I do not think I will make croissants from scratch again, I definitely will think about putting chocolate in crescent rolls.

Recipe 29: Croissant

Recipe 29: Croissant
Originally uploaded by kjscrafts

Croissants were one of the things I made at Baking Bootcamp in April. It is quite an intensive process and I do not really think it was worth it. I am pathetic and would rather buy crescent rolls in a tube.

Recipe 28: Pistachio Crème Brulee

I had never thought I liked creme brûlée until I made the Pistachio Creme Brulee at Baking Boot Camp back in April. It was overall easy to make, however I stunk at browning the sugar on top using the blow torch. Of course, at home I won't be able to do that part anyways, so I have not really tried it the alternate way, which does not really sound better. Eventually I do want to try making orange creme brûlée using orange zest.

Recipe 27: Lemon Lavender Cookies

The Lemon Lavender Cookies is an interesting recipe I made at Baking Boot Camp in April. I kind of liked them in essence, but also kind of did not like them because they were really crispy and I like my cookies soft. The flavor of the lemon icing and candied lemons along with the lavender is quite good, though.

Recipe 26: Brioche

Brioche is another thing I baked during Baking Boot Camp back in April 2010. It is probably the easiest bread we tried. I do not know if I will ever make this at home, but it did not seem too daunting to do on my own, as long as I had my Kitchen Aid with the dough attachment with me.

Recipe 25: Chocolate Eclairs

The Chocolate Eclairs is one of the things I made at Baking Boot Camp back in April. I have never been much into pastry cream, but these eclairs turned out quite tasty even with the cream, although I would prefer to make them without cream and hope to eventually try a caramel filling. I was also surprised how much I actually liked the chocolate we dipped the eclairs in. I liked that it ended up being more like dark chocolate.

Recipe 24: Apple Pie

Apple pie is another thing I made for the first time in the Baking Boot Camp class. It was pretty simple and good, but I think next time I will do apple with some sort of berries in a pie.

Recipe 23: Hamburger Buns

The last weekend in April I took a Baking Boot Camp class in Chicago, which helped me get back on track for new recipes this year. The first of these recipes was hamburger buns. Now I do not eat meat and am not much into veggie burgers, but these buns were pretty tasty as far as buns go. Kind of more effort than I would go through being I have little need for buns, but definitely better tasting than store bought buns. Also, they served them with just portabello mushrooms for me and that was pretty good.

Recipe 22: Fruit Tart

Another recipe I made back in March was a fruit tart. This was a very simple one using an Oreo cookie crust and white chocolate instant pudding. I added blueberries and raspberries on top from my supply of frozen fruit. It would definitely have been better with fresh berries, but none were on sale that week and it seemed a waste to pay full price when I had stocked so much from sales.

Recipe 21: Shrimp and Tofu Dumplings

I am way behind on my posts, although only slightly behind being on track to do 100 new recipes this year. The shrimp and tofu dumplings I made back in March. I made a huge batch and froze them. They turned out pretty well. It took a whole day to make them, but they have lasted until now.

Recipe 20: Marinated Mushrooms

Last week mushrooms were part of a Buy 5 save $5 deal at Safeway and I got some for $1 a thing. I decided to marinate some of them. I simply made up the marinade myself. I just put the mushrooms in balsamic vinegar, added some garlic powder, and shook it in a bowl that had a lid. Then I let it marinade for a day before eating. They ended up pretty tasty.

Recipe 19: Rainbow Cupcakes

I have not done any cooking since the Olympic stuff. The lastest issue of FamilyFun came last week and inspired me to get back into it, although I still am not as much into as earlier in the year partially because I have been more into reading. Anyways, yesterday I tried the rainbow cupcake recipe from FamilyFun, which is also on their website here.

I made the cupcakes from a mix, but it still took a lot more work than normal cupcakes since you have to divide the batter into six bowls, color the batter different colors, and then put them in the cupcake holders one at a time. I did not do a good job of dividing the batter because I ended up with a lot of purple and not enough of most of the other colors, so I only ended up with about ten actual rainbow cupcakes.

They do take a lot of work, but they look really cool. I made cream cheese frosting (from a red velvet cupcake recipe I have made) to top them, as it is the only kind of frosting I like.