"C" is for Cookie...is good enough for me! Nom Nom Nom

Hello again, and Merry Christmas folks!  The holidays are here and I'm filled with the joy it brings.  Last Christmas (I gave you my heart...kidding) I was overwhelmed with the job of earning money for my trip to Washington DC.  This school year, after receiving some information regarding Close Up Organization I took the liberty of being a bit more relaxed.  However, inasmuch as I no longer needed to worry about a $4,500 bill I still wondered where my money went.  I know all too well where my money is going, but that still leaves me the question of how am I going to pay for all the things that help me celebrate Christmas?  (gifts, raffle tickets, concerts, party dress, *sigh*)  Oh heck! Like that ever stopped anyone from celebrating the holidays.

One night my friends and I had a get together to celebrate Friends-giving.  Because Thanksgiving had already passed and we missed each other a great deal, all of us concluded we ought to have a Friends-giving by combining Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the accouterments of the holidays in November and December over food and drink.  During our Friends-giving we had a little "Secret Santa" going on and I was left with the task of either getting a book, a service or some doggy treats.  I decided to get the book since I was in a shopping area closest to it.  Upon the book purchase the book store threw in a free holiday cookie magazine.  I was excited as well as inspired to make the cookies and realized these make great Christmas gifts.  So this year, to help me save some cash, and still be jolly what other way to bring  and have joy than having a nice plate of cookies?

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup shortening
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda                                
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 chopped walnuts
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Throw everything into the mixer in that order.  Make sure the sugar is thoroughly mixed with the shortening first before beating the eggs.  When it comes time to put in the flour always slowly gradually drop the flour into the mixer and mix on low.  (Don't want flour flying all over the place)  Once they're all in, mix like you're going out to town.

Chill the cookie dough for at least 4 hours. I like wrapping the dough in plastic wrap.  It saves space in the refrigerator by doing so, instead of putting the whole mixing bowl in.  After chilling, preheat the oven at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)  As the oven warms up, prepare a baking sheet.  I find myself preparing three 18x13 sheets.  Depending on the type of sheet (non-stick or aluminum) I would lightly grease the pan.  I don't grease if I'm using a non-stick pan.  For each pan, scoop a tablespoon full of dough and roll them into balls before landing them onto the pan.  Make sure they're an inch apart.  With the pan I use, I'm able to fit 12 pieces.  Bake the cookie dough for 10 minutes. (Total = 36 pieces)

Five minutes before the time is up, I like to open the oven and just take in that fresh baked smell as well as shape them with a spoon.  When time is up, let the cookies cool and rest on a cooling rack.  If you don't have a cooling rack, let them cool on a plate.  But, seriously consider getting one.  Putting them on a plate creates unwanted moisture.  Leaving them on the baking sheet burns the cookie bottom.  I enjoy this recipe so much because of the balanced flavors.  The walnuts balance out the throat choking sweetness of the chocolate and brown sugar combined.  I also love the size.  They're small, cute and look wonderful in gift bags or saved glass jars. Oh! And don't forget the milk.  With this many cookies, you might need to share with Santa and your friends.

It's an island thing...

What do places like Guam, Jamaica and Japan have in common?  Despite their size, all these places are islands of the world we live in.  Today’s discovery was a fusion of all three islands combined.  Guam may not take the entire credit for some of the ingredients combined, but it certainly has invoked a kind of culture surrounding the ingredient.

One night while I was with friends having a typical get together, I brought with me some ingredients in making Futomaki (Maki in short) rolls.  This roll is your common sushi roll, vinegar seasoned white rice wrapped with roasted seaweed sheets.  My typical futomaki roll consists of pickled daikon, (or daigo as we call it on Guam) Pickled ginger (Shoga) Cucumber, Spam and Egg scramble.  While waiting for the barbecue to finish off the grill, I took the opportunity to make some sushi rolls for appetizers. 

On Guam, unless instructed not to bring anything, we bring it upon ourselves a great deal of shame if we don’t bring something to the party.  Even bringing paper products or ice to cool our drinks is greatly welcomed.  Unfortunately, while making sushi I ran out of rice.  Interestingly, one of our friends decided to stop by a popular restaurant here that sold Jamaican fusion barbecue and bought a catered order of Jamaican Rice.  Feeling the need to make more appetizer, another friend of mine looked at me and insisted I try using the Jamaican Rice in my Maki roll and substitute it for the vinegar seasoned white rice typically used.  Despite the fear of creating something monstrous, the leap was well worth it.  These were some delicious appetizers that from now on, I shall never look at Jamaican rice the same way ever again. 

The taste was savory.  Flavors of soy sauce and the pickled ingredients balanced well with the cucumbers.  Thank goodness for the islands.

Here are some links that show how you can make your very own Jamaican Rice and how to roll Maki Rolls. The video chosen for Maki Rolls happens to be a special recipe from Chef.  However, ingredients for maki rolls are dependent on what the sushi maker decides.  In this picture, I am lacking other ingredients. Regardless, what you see was just as delicious.

This S*** is Bananas...uh and Carrots too.

Christmas 2014 my roommate gave me a wonderful gift.  I've been dreaming about having one, but never had the cash to buy one on my own.   Since receiving it, I had dubbed my Kitchen Aid standing mixer, the money maker.  And, money it has indeed made.

A year ago, I had decided to advise a student organization.  Close Up Organization's mission is to give students and teachers a closer look into the US Federal Government.  Students and teachers travel from their respective US states and territories to Washington DC and experience a program like no other.  Despite my enthusiasm and excitement at the thought of traveling to Washington DC from Guam, where and how am I going to come up with $4,500 to pay for this endeavor? By baking bread.  With my money maker, I had made Banana Bread, Red Velvet Cake, Carrot Cake, even Cinnamon Rolls. At first, I only thought of making Banana Bread.  But as the days went by it became monotonous.  It was then that I decided to throw in other flavors.  By January, each flavor became the flavor of the month. 

Banana Bread          
3/4 cup butter
3 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
6 mashed up bananas
2 cups sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C)
Cream the butter, add the sugar and beat the eggs with and into the mixer.  In a separate bowl mash the bananas, and throw in the sour cream, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. After thoroughly mixing what was in the separate bowl, add this mixture to what has already been mixed in the mixer.  While mixing on low, gradually put in the flour and walnuts.

As these mix on low, prepare two 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 loaf pans.  I coated these pans twice, one with cooking spray and a cinnamon-sugar coat.  After this, pour in the mixture and bake these babies for two hours.  Use the toothpick method to see if the loaves were baked well.  When baking is done, we actually have to rest these loaves out of the oven for another 30 minutes before removing them from the pan.  Sometimes, I let them rest for an hour.  You'll know you rested them adequately because you can shake the loaves off the pan without breakage. Oh! the times I did not let them rest...so wasteful. 

The loaves made sixteen 2 centimeter slices.  Each slice was sold at $2.00.  Although I was happy that my baking enterprise assisted me and my students head to Washington DC, I thought about the time it takes to prepare and bake this stuff.  It took me on average 6 hours.  That's almost full time employment.  As I thought of that, I also realized that I took on this effort not really considering how many materials, aside from the baking materials it takes to be successful. (i.e. the plastic wrap and the time it took to wrap each slice. The change fund...) Add that to my day job as a teacher, I was completely exhausted.  This effort in itself, plus teacher duties was stressful.  More stress was added when the students approached me and my club partner about their congenial concerns and the way earned money was spent, not to mention my personal bills.  I was left with the question, who has the energy to do this every year?  In the end, I took away a lifetime experience with tons of lessons learned.  Oddly, I look forward to the insanity once again, when I have been well rested and maybe a little more wiser.

  

Obsession? Noooo...Inspiration!

My my, what a long time it has been.  Happy New Year, Everyone!  I suppose a great deal of stress was placed on me taking me away from posting.  However, time waits for no one and we all must move forward.  Which brings me to my recent attention getter.  On December 17, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies premiered.  This latest installment, a proceeding from the Desolation of Smaug re-introduced a beloved actor.  Lee Pace plays the Elven king Thranduil.  Oddly enough, I've seen Lee Pace in other movies, but it was his character Thranduil that made me obsess over trying to watch as much movies and TV shows with him that I can get my hands on.

 As I'm going down the list, I encounter a title that was hailed as one of the "TV shows cancelled too soon" according to Mojo.com.  Pushing Daisies, starring Lee Pace aired in 2007 and was cancelled in 2009.  With a label such as "cancelled too soon", I'm reminded of Firefly.  To me, Firefly was a great show.  So, I took the time to watch Pushing Daisies and like Firefly, I loved this TV show and I was saddened that it ended.  There was something I took from it, despite.  I love pie!  See, Lee Pace plays the pie-maker who has a gift of bringing back the dead.  Why he is a pie-maker has a melancholy background but either way, I became very excited in making my own pie.  In fact, I realized I have a couple of favorites.  Who knows, maybe I'll think of creating a pie joint for retirement.  With the help of AllRecipies.com and a bit of verbal push from my friend, I started with Pumpkin Pie.  To start, I wanted recipes that cut cook time.  So, I took routes that tried to avoid cutting up the fruit and if I found a canned filling, or pre-made crust then I took it.  Although Libby's provided a recipe for Pumpkin Pie on the pumpkin filling label, I went with AllRecipes because instead of carnation milk and sugar, they were combined in condensed milk.    

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon   
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

As you get your ingredients together pre-heat the oven at 425 degrees.   Bake for 15 minutes.  After the 15 minutes are up, reduce the temperature to 325 and bake for 35-40 minutes.  After the wait, you have this!

 

After that, I wanted to make another pie.  The pre-made pie crust had two in the package, so I decided to make another favorite.  Banana Pie.  

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk  
• 3 egg yolks, beaten  
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 bananas, sliced

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner.
2. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency.
3. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Chill for an hour.

Two of them are just the beginning.  I find the pies that are featured in the TV show are like playing a video game.  After I've made my favorites, the pies on Pushing Daisies is like going up a level.  The final boss I need to beat is the Apple Gruyere Pie, Chuck makes for here Aunts on the TV show.  Gruyere is a cheese that is not sold on Guam.  So,  that pie is going to take a little more effort to make.  Next will be Mango-Pineapple and a slew of savory pies.  Here's hoping this doesn't bite me through my power bill.  Either way, Happy Pie Making, Happy Pie Eating!