I dream of Chocolate Chip Cookies!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 TSP baking soda

1cup butter, softened

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 package instant vanilla pudding mix

2 eggs

1TSP vanilla extract

2cups semisweet chocolate chips

1cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set asideIn a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

yum yum yummmmm who will take home the Oscars tonight?! who knows, but we’ll be watching in our pjs with chocolate smeared all over our faces! haha!

liss

Cheese and crackers are always a nice layout for a party, but how about some “life bread” and some hard meats and cheeses?

“Life Bread”

Assortment of hard Meats and Cheeses, cubed

1TBSP yeast

1tsp salt

1TBSP sugar (to start yeast)

1.5 cups warm water

4cups flour (all purpose)

2cups Warm water, mixed with 2TBSP baking soda

Start yeast with 1TBSP sugar and 2TBSP warm water. Give it about 2 minutes to poof up a bit, then add the flour and knead until its smooth and elastic. Let it rise for an hour. Combine baking soda with warm water.  When loaf has risen, dunk into baking soda water and set aside on a baking sheet to rise again for another 15minutes. Add another small layer of baking soda water with a brush or spoon to the top, and sprinkle with course salt. Let bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked in the middle. Cut into cubes and serve with cheese and meats

“Life is hard. Life is short. Life is painful. Life is rich. Life is…Precious.

liss

So, why not make Baby Burgers with Blue cheese and pear topping! Its elegant enough for the Oscars, and you can always go for the ketchup and mustard if you make extra burgers

Blue Baby Burgers

1 package dinner rolls

1lb ground beef

1TBSP Soya sauce, and Worchesisire  sauce each

1TBSP garlic Powder

3TBSP Parmasan cheese (from the can people)

1/4cup breadcrumbs

3 ripe pears, cut into slices

blue cheese

Mix together meat, spices, breadcrumbs and parmasan, and form small 1inch thick, 2inches wide burgers. Grill or fry burgers, and 5 minutes before they are finished add blue cheese to the top and let melt. Add pears and then serve everything neatly tucked into a dinner roll!

… I have no quote because the blue people scare me a little. I appreciate its cinamatic genius though.

liss

Beouf Bourguignon Tartlets

12 tartlet shells, browned in the oven

1lb stewing beef

1 carrot and one onion chopped small

4 slices bacon, chopped

2TBSP flour

1cup Small peeled Pearl onions (put then in a bowl of water, and the skins should just pull off) **half them if they are too large for the tartlet shells**

4 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped

1TBSP tomato Paste

1Cup red wine,

1TBSP butter

1Cup beef stock

Pinch Rosemary

Saute bacon and Beef with 2tbsp of Flour, cooking on high, until browned on every side. Add vegetables and saute until they are browned as well. Remember that this stew is eventually going into a tartlet shell, so all ingredients should be small enough to put into them without making a mess. When the vegetables are browned, add the Wine, beef stock and tomato paste, as well as the garlic. Add 1 TBSP butter and the pinch of rosemary, and let it cook down until the stew is thick. Serve this stew hot, in prepared tart shells.

“Bon Appetite!” -Julia Child

liss

Just so we’re all clear on the standings here (G/S/B/total):

1.		United States	9	15	13	37
2.		Germany	10	13	7	30
3.		Canada	14	7	5	26

Alright, now that we have that cleared up haha, I wanted to also add an exert from a page I was reading in research of this blog. Its from MSN.ca, and is discussing what was purchased for the Olympians at the very beginning. I thought it was interesting to look at

“So what exactly are the athletes eating out there in Vancouver and Whistler? Just a few examples of whatVANOC has purchased just at the start of the games: 36,540 eggs, 42,440 liters of 2% milk, 28,140 liters of skim milk, 77,800 lbs of bananas, 86,664 Granny Smith Apples, 70,104 Golden Delicious Apples and 11,000 lbs of pasta.” (http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com/health-fitness/diet/ee-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23468426)

Thats a lot of food!

Back to the blog. For Desert: A fast Fruit Parfait, and for Dinner: A firecracker shrimp Pasta

3 Minute Parfait (no.. seriously)

3/4cup vanilla low-fat yogurt

1/4cup blueberries and raspberries (each)

2TBSP honey

3TBSP chopped almonds

You can do this one of two ways: Layer the parfait Yogurt, Berries, Honey,Yogurt, Berries, Honey, Almonds, OR just pile it yogurt, berries, honey almonds. Whatever’s faster for you Its as easy as that.

A Golden Finish: Firecracker Shrimp Pasta

1 OR 1.5 cups peeled/cooked frozen shrimp

1/2 TSP Chili flakes

2 cloves chopped garlic

1cup Snowpeas (in pod, halved)

1/2cup chopped rapini

1/2cup chopped cherry tomatos

100g WHOLE GRAIN Pasta per person (a very healthy choice)

1/4cup oil

Begin by starting boiling water for pasta, and heating pan with oil for the shrimp. Follow pasta package cooking directions, adding 3TBSP salt to the boiling water. Add in the snow peas and rapini to the pasta water 4 minutes before the pasta is finished. In the frying pan (about 5 minutes before the pasta is finished, the same time you add the snow peas and rapini to the pasta) add the garlic, chili pepper flakes, salt, pepper and shrimp to the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Drain pasta and veggies, and then toss everything together quickly in the shrimp frying pan. Add more oil to coat the pasta if there isnt enough in the pan already. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.

Enjoy my loves!

I shall return soon!

liss

**Quick thought for you all: Would anyone be interested in custom made aprons via Chef Liss?**

Pesto Shrimp Pizza

1 jar alfredo sauce

1 jar pesto (**make your own! 2 cloves garlic, 2 cups Basil, 1 cup Olive oil S&P, Blend Well**)

1tube pre-made pizzadough

1cup pre-cooked shrimp

1cup mozzerella

1jar Artichokes in brine, chopped

1/2jar capers, drained and rinsed

ALSO!

1TBSP garlic powder

1TBSP Parmesan cheese *cheap from the shaker can people, lets be honest its FEB and we’re runnin out of funds!*

1TBSP Oregano

1TBSP Butter

Roll out the dough, and mix roughly 1/2 Jar Pesto with 1/5th of a jar of  alfredo (You want it to be a thick sauce, not runny, and with more pesto than alfredo). Spread pesto/alfredo mix onto dough, add shrimp, artichokes and capers, then top with cheese. On the crust, spread thin layer of butter, then mix together the oregano, garlic powder and cheese, and top the buttered crust with it. Bake at 350 for 15-20minutes or until crust is browned.

Yummmmmmmmm looks sooooo good… trying this one soon for suree

liss

This recipe called for chili powder in the truffles, and please make sure you try this at least once. It can be omitted along with the orange peel, and you will still have delicious chocolatey morsels, but the recipe really does shine with them in! The Mayans used chilipowder for a few (rather un-sexy) purposes of curing stomach ailments, and for relief of blocked bowels, however my addition adds a spicy delicious flare, minus the bowel movements…

Liss’s Mayan Chocolate Truffles

2.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1cup heavy whipping cream

1TSP each of Cinnamon and Chillipowder

1TSP Orange rind (optional)

1/2TSP salt

For dusting (options, use one or all!)

Cocoa powder

Mixture of 2TBSP cinnamon, 1/2 TSP Chilipowder, and 1TBSP cocoa

Chopped walnuts

In a double boiler, melt chocolate and add in whipping cream slowly until completely dissolved. Add spices (including salt) and mix thoroughly. Chill for 1hr + or until mixture has stiffened and can be rolled into 1inch sized balls (thats not what she said so stop it!). Roll each truffle in powder or topping of choice and refrigerate and eat whenever you want!

Good luck guys! Enjoy your little taste of Ancient Mexico!

liss

FUDGE!

Peanut butter and Maple fudge actually.

Easy Peasy! DO IT NOW!

***CAUTION! SUGAR GETS EXTREMELY HOT AND CAN CAUSE 3RD DEGREE BURNS!! BE VERY CAREFUL!!***

PB and Cinnamon Maple Fudge

1cup Milk

2cups Sugar

2TBSP margerine

1TBSP maple syrup

Pinch Salt

Pinch cinnamon

1cup Peanut Butter (crunchy)

Boil milk sugar and salt for 10 minutes, then add maple syrup and margerine and cook for another 7ish minutes, or until the mix goes a caramel colour. Remove immediatly, stir in Peanut Butter and cinnamon and pour into a pre-buttered pan. ou must do this quickly as it sets up very fast. Freeze for about 1 hr and serve!

My roommates and BF are looking forward to trying this out. Its currently in my freezer, anxiously waiting to be gobbled up.

let me know how it goes!

liss

Im cheating with a pre-made crust, but who cares it makes it ten times fast and we all know at 12am you are NOT looking in your cupboard for the flour and yeast. I love my BF but Im not that crazy haha.

Artichoke, Asparagus and Feta Pizza

1 jar Alfredo Sauce (again, its midnight here people, gimme a break and make the pizza!)

1 tube pilsbury Pizza Crust

1 Jar Marinated Artichoke hearts

8-10 asparagus, cut roughly

1 cup crumbled Feta

1/2cup Basil Leaves

5-10 Cherry tomatos, sliced

Roll out pizza dough, and using a few spoons of Alfredo sauce spread evenly over the dough. Top the pizza with the artichoke hearts, asparagus and feta, and then the tomato slices, and ripped basil leafs over the top. You can also add some garlic powder, oregano and salt and pepper on top of the pizza. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy your midnight snack my lovelies!

liss

Mole (moe-lay)  is a spice Mexican sauce usually made with pablano peppers. The sauce is the “hardest part” (the only hard part is acquiring all of the ingredients). Spice up your loved ones mouth with this delicious little concoction. The Peppers and the chocolate are both aphrodisiac, and the pork loin is so easy, who would resist!

Pork Loin with Spicey Mole Sauce

PORK:

1 Pork Loin

3cloves sliced garlic,

2TBSP Rosemary

2TBSP Salt and Pepper

On a clean cutting board, lay your pork down and cut lots of semi-deep slits into the top of the meat. Shove one slice of garlic into the slits, and then remove loin from the board. Now on the board, spread garlic, and spices out evenly and roll the loin in the spices. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and crusted on top, and the inside temperature is 160 degrees. (about 1 hour)

SAUCE:

2 Chipoltle chilies (canned) chopped
4 dried ancho chilies, chopped
4 dried mulato chilies, chopped
1 can (14 oz / 400 g) tomatoes or 3 large, fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup (2.4 dl) chicken broth
4 tablespoons peanutbutter
½ teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 oz (60 g) bittersweet chocolate

Begin by heating a pan, and adding the spices and chillies to the pan in order to ‘roast’ them. Add chillies to hot chicken broth to reconstitute, and then add all ingredients (except chocolate) to a blender. Blend on high until everything is pureed then begin heating in a pot. Gently mix in the chocolate, and serve hot over the pork loin.

REDUCE CHILLIE AMOUNT if you are not a fan of hot things, although this dish is “spicy” it is not HOT spicy, just spiced tasting.

I hope you enjoy your elegant pork loin, definitely give me some feedback on this tidbit!

liss