Sesame Noodles -- Tyler Florence Fridays

I just found out about Tyler Florence Fridays -- a really fun new group started by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen , Megan of My Baking Adventures , and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies where you get to pick any Tyler Florence recipe you'd like and give it a go! What a wonderful chance (or nudge) to try some of Tyler's recipes that sound or look so good on the show and you've been wanting to make but just haven't gotten around to.


For the first TFF I picked Tyler's Cold Sesame Noodles, a recipe that caught my eye on the footnetwork website, and sounded so yummy! I ended up serving it warm, I know, it's supposed to be cold, but I like it warm a little better :) This ended up being a great easy recipe with on hand ingredients, just perfect! I loved the flavor combo but would probably up the chili sauce next time. This is a great base for sesame noodles and would be wonderful with a veggie tofu stir fry. As is it made a fine little lunch nibble, and it is kid friendly, yay! The kids thought I was making Sesame Street noodles, ha!

Don't you just love the little shinkansen chopsticks from Japan? I borrowed my son's chopstick set for this noodle photo shoot, isn't it adorable? You could say I have a little weakness for cute kiddie tableware -- I'm always seeing a new little plate set or silverware set for the kiddos and have way too many. And I'm sure you noticed that beautiful placemat, guess where that is from? It was part of my Blogging By Mail package from the very sweet Shaheen at Ambrosia -- just a peak at my wonderful package from India!! I will share more of it later, don't worry. I just got it last Wednesday and was so surprised to see my mail lady with a special delivery from overseas. Thank you, Shaheen!

Cold Sesame Noodles -- Tyler Florence

1 pound Chinese egg noodles or spaghetti
Kosher salt
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon red chili sauce (recommended: Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
6 tablespoons water
2 scallions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cool. Drain the noodles well and transfer to a wide bowl.

In a blender, add the ginger, garlic, sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, and water. Process until the mixture is smooth. Put the blender jar into the refrigerator and let it chill for about 1/2 hour. Pour the peanut sauce over the noodles and toss until well coated. Serve garnished with the scallions, sesame seeds, and cilantro.

Herb Roasted Onions -- Barefoot Bloggers

I made the onions tonight (way to wait until the last minute, right?) and they were great! No time to post more tonight but I will tomorrow when I get a chance, thank you for a fun pick, Kelly (from Baking with the Boys ) -- these were something I probably would have missed!

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Okay, I'm back :) Like I said earlier I waited until the last minute to make these, to be completely honest I was not too excited about making this recipe, I was kind of avoiding it, and I feel like a bad Barefoot Blogger for doing so. I'm just not a fan of onions or mustard :( I'm always complaining about my super picky husband that doesn't like anything, but last night was my night to be picky. I never buy onions, last time I did was for the stock for Ina's cream of mushroom soup, so I felt almost silly picking them up at the store. Even my little ones asked why we were buying onions, "but we don't like onions, mommy," said my three year old. I told her that only mommy doesn't like onions -- and that maybe she would -- and that even mommy is giving them another chance with this "special onion recipe."

Herb Roasted Onions -- Ina Garten there is a link to the recipe if you'd like to give it a try. I really recommend it, even if you don't like onions and mustard you might be pleasantly surprised like I was! These were the best onions I've ever had outside of an onion ring. And even then I've been caught pulling out the onion and just eating the crispy batter (shhh don't tell). I can't believe how much I've enjoyed every recipe picked for Barefoot Bloggers.

Prep was easy -- except my burining eyes! I for some reason thought the onions would just make my eyes tear up, not make me almost cry in pain from the burning and having to spash cold water on my eyes and walk outside to try to get away from the wrath of the onions. Maybe because I've ordered just about every meal my whole life 'no onions, please' -- or every recipe I try I sub onion powder for the actual onion. Maybe this was payback.

Kugelflop -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Welcome to my 21st TWD post! Wow! It seems like I just started this blog in the hopes of baking along with everyone every week and I am happy to be able to say I haven't missed a week yet :) The recipe of the week is Kugelhopf, chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl , thanks for a fun pick, Yolanda!

Would you believe me if I told you I bought a silicone kugelhopf pan a month or so ago, planning to make a Christmas kugelhopf and wanting to be ready when this recipe was selected for TWD? It's true! Trying to make this kugelhopf ended up being the second and third time I've used this pan, the first being a lovely Cranberry Cardamom Cake I made last month.

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On to the baking...okay, I'm sure I won't be the only one calling this a kugelflop this week. What went wrong? I don't know! I made this twice, the first time I accidentally added the butter at the beginning in one big schlop. I went ahead with the recipe, the kugelhopf rose well, I thought we were going to be okay. After about 1.5 hours on the last rising I put it in the oven, I left about an inch, maybe two, before the top of the pan because I assumed it would rise a lot. Dorie let me believe it would rise a lot. It didn't. Hmmm.

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Here are some photos from attempt #1

(yeah, that's my pink dyson hiding in the background)

In this recipe there was no "let cool on wire rack" direction just "unmold and let cool" ... I think that had a lot to do with why mine crumbled and cracked too much. You know, I thought to myself, this should probably cool in the pan on a rack, but since the recipe didn't say to I just followed the directions. I've made that mistake before with a bundt cake, you were supposed to unmold it right when you took it out of the oven, and let it cool unmolded on the rack, well, for whatever reason I let it cool in the pan, which resulted it a stuck to the sides mess. I didn't want that to happen with the kugelhopf so I decided to play it safe and unmold it right away. Too bad it crumbled.

I let my second attempt at this kugelhopf cool in pan on a wire rack before unmolding and had no problem. It looked pretty, of course not as gorgeously high and I had pictured, and tasted just as I'd expected (think "less moist panettone") a perfect not too sweet treat to have with tea for breakfast. The kids especially loved it :) I'm just baffled about why it did not rise in the oven after rising so well out of the oven. I've worked with yeast a lot and have never had that happen, I've dealt with bad yeast, not rising in the oven, etc. but never rising well out of the oven but not while baking. Oh-well. I have another kugelhopf recipe bookmarked and plan to try it before the holidays and hopefully I can get that tall beautiful shape I expected.

Kugelhopf #2

Forgot to add that on my second try I did not do the foil because I thought that maybe me opening the oven on the first kugelhopf to remove the foil made it fall or not rise or something...there is my reasoning, although it didn't seem to make a difference at all. For them both I skipped the butter soak, I was planning to do it with my big beautiful kugelhopf but it seems like it would have been a waste (of calories and butter) to bother with it on these poor little guys.

Even though I'm not happy with the 'not rising in the oven' and can't figure it out, this was a fun TWD week and a fun challenge. I'm really ready to try another kugelhopf recipe and see if I can figure out what has been happening, I want this to work!!

Panini Press -- Maker Monday

It is Maker Monday time again! I'm sure just about everybody has a panini press but I thought I'd share a little about mine. I have the Cuisinart G1 Griddler Panini and Sandwich Press, and I love it. To be completely honest when I first saw it in person I thought it was pretty small, and also didn't like the fact that you can't stand it up for storage...but once I started making paninis all doubts went away and I fell for this specialty appliance like just about everyone else who has reviewed it on amazon.

I've never met a person who doesn't love a panini, even my ultra picky husband can find suitable fillings to make a sandwich he enjoys. And the kids, they love a panini pb & j, or a whole wheat banana nutella panini... Just about anything you can imagine can be magically transformed into an ooey gooey melty hot sandwich, add a salad and maybe a light soup, and you have a really easy dinner for the family, and everyone gets to pick their own panini fillings, so no complaints!

I've had this press for a couple years, it was a birthday present from my mom, who has nurtured my need to have specialty appliances since I was very young, I think I was the only little girl old who wanted a cappuccino maker from santa, and yes, santa delivered.

Here are some pictures of a 'mushroom avocado colby melt', my own little creation that turned out to be oh so delicious. I'm a sucker for melty veggie cheese sandwiches, you can put about anything in there on bread and it's delcious, and this sandwich is a new favorite. Just two thick slices of Honey French Bread, two thin colby jack slices, a little avocado (don't use too much or it will make the panini slippery inside and hard to eat), and one large mushroom, sliced. I added a little mayo and buttered the outside just a touch. You really don't have to, but I love how the crispy buttered sides take me back to a comforting grilled cheese.

Put your sandwich on the preheated griddler and set down the lid, I like to press it down a bit at first to smoosh all the yummy stuff together, then let it cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Ta-Da! Perfect yummy panini! Enjoy!

My Kitchen My World -- Ireland

Sorry I haven't been around this past week, I've been a little under the weather and spent a lot of time on the sofa asking the kids to please be quiet while mommy wasn't feeling well. Nothing serious, thank goodness, but whatever it was it left me completely wiped out. Finally I'm feeling a touch better, just in time to do our My Kitchen My World assignment of the week, how could I possibly miss the fun? So glad I didn't have to -- this week Michelle from My Year to Get Skinny picked Ireland for our culinary trip. I decided to make some Irish Soda Bread and Irish Barley Vegetable Soup. Both dishes were wonderful and I will be making them again. I can't believe I've never tried Irish Soda Bread before, it was so easy to make, I even used the food processor (a la Dorie) to do the mixing. And any bread with buttermilk is a winner for me.





The soup has carrots, potatoes, parsnips, celery, and barley in a simple broth. It was delicious and even the kids liked it.

Easy Irish Soda Bread

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 cup white sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons oil (I used canola)

Put dry ingredients into food processor and pulse until combined. You could also do this by hand but the food processor just makes it so much easier. Open the processor and add in the buttermilk, milk, and oil. Close again and pulse until dough pulls together.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently knead together into a round loaf. Score the top and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to cool on wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

There is also the sweeter and apparently untraditional version with raisins and/or currants and caraway seeds. I will be trying this version in the future, but this more savory version was perfect to go with the soup.

Thanks Michelle, Ireland was a fun country to find recipes from and I have book marked a ton more to try later on. St. Patrick's Day doesn't have to be the only day to cook an Irish meal :)

Apricot Cherry Rugelach -- Tuesdays with Dorie

For our oh so special election day TWD, Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal picked Rugelach from pages 150 and 151 of Dorie's Baking From My Home To Yours. Thanks, Piggy :) I love rugelach and it is a must bake cookie -- at least once a year around Christmas -- for us. Even though I've made it quite a few times I don't have a special recipe, I try different ones and am usually not dissapointed, but never wowed enough to stop trying new recipes.

This was the first time I've ever made the dough in a food processor and I thought it turned out really nicely! I used apricot jam and almonds and dried cherries for the filling, skipped the chocolate this time around although I have done chocolate rugelach in the past (chocolate -pistachio - raspberry is a favorite combo) I was in more a fruit and nut mood with these. I only ended up with 16 cookies, not the 32 the book says, I didn't really pay attention as to how to cut them since I've made them before but I'm assuming it was kind of tough to get 32 out of these -- the dough is kind of fragile...but if you did I bet they are very pretty with such delicate swirls. This was probably my favorite TWD cookie so far, nice and soft and fruity and nutty. Just perfect with some tea.

Happy voting, everyone!

My Kitchen My World -- Germany

This week My Kitchen My World visited Germany with our tastebuds. Roxanne of Roxanne's Road Rules picked Germany, thanks, what a fun culinary trip! I made...

Vegetable Strudel -- did you know strudel literally means 'eddy' or 'whirlpool' in German --referring to the rolled pastry that is used to hold a sweet or savory filling? Pretty neat, huh? The filling has beans, potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash, yum!

We had Spaetzle (spatzle), a favorite around here, an egg noodle pasta-ish dough is pressed through a special spaetzle press or colander into boiling broth or water, and prepared like pasta. I have a Norpro spaetzle maker from amazon that was a great deal and is really easy to use.

I also tried my hand at making a tofu schnitzel, which was actually pretty good. Mushroom gravy and green beans rounded out the meal, which was served with giant Bavarian pretzels -- a fun treat that we like to make a few times a year :)