Last September I made my husband some mint chocolate chip ice cream with real mint, he was very disappointed by it and the entire batch ended up getting thrown away. Ever since then I have been meaning to attempt this ice cream again using peppermint extract instead of real mint. The results this time were much better. The ice cream was beautifully green (thanks to the help of about 10 drops of food coloring) and was exactly the mint flavor that my husband was looking for. 
Since this is a Philadelphia style ice cream recipe there are no eggs in the batter thus no cooking is required. Although the taste is not as smooth and creamy and an egg based ice cream this style ice cream gets the job done The good thing about Philadelphia style ice cream is that the ingredients can be mixed together and in the freezer bowl within five minutes. This recipe gets two thumbs up from my house and I am sure I will be making it time and time again.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from Carries Sweet Life
Ingredients
2 cups 2% milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
green food coloring (optional)
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
In a large bowl, stir together the milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint extract until the sugar has dissolved. Color to your liking with the green food coloring.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After about 10 minutes into the freezing, add the chocolate chips. After the ice cream has thickened, about 30 minutes later, spoon into a container, and freeze for 2 hours.
I am sorry dear readers that all I have been posting lately is sweet, calorie laden foods. My friend Carrie informed me that she missed the dinner updates on my blog and challenged me to post something new this week. After searching for days (yes, literally days) I decided to make this cashew chicken recipe from the Williams-Sonoma website. My mom always orders cashew chicken but I had never had it before. Not only am I posting a new recipe this week but I am also posting something that I tried for the first time. Hopefully I can keep up the pace at post at least one new dinner recipe a week.
I was quite surprised how quickly this meal came together, I think it could easily be done from start to finish in about 40 minutes, even with the chicken taking 15 minutes to marinate. I have nothing to compare this to since I have never had cashew chicken before but I do have to say that this dish was pretty good. The only substitution that I made was to use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs. My husband thought the recipe was great just how it was but I think it needed a bit more sauce. I think next time I will double the sauce recipe so I have enough to drizzle over my rice. All in all this was a delicious quick meal that I will definitely be making again.
Cashew Chicken
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma
~makes 4 servings ~
Ingredients
3 tablespoons. soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons corn or peanut oil
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup salted roasted cashews
Steamed rice for serving
Directions
Marinate the chicken - In a large bowl, stir together 2 Tbs. of the soy sauce, the wine and ginger. Stir in the chicken to coat evenly and set aside for 15 minutes.
Make the sauce - In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbs. water, the remaining 1 Tbs. soy sauce, the Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, sugar and cornstarch, and stir to dissolve the sugar and cornstarch.
Stir-fry the chicken - Heat a wok or large fry pan over high heat until very hot and add 2 Tbs. of the corn oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade, draining it well, and discard the marinade. Add the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until opaque, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a bowl.
Return the wok to medium heat and add the remaining 1 Tbs. corn oil. Add the green onions and stir-fry until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Return the chicken to the wok and add the cashews. Give the sauce a quick stir, add to the pan and stir until the sauce thickens slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately with the steamed rice.
This week I have learned that preparing for these Wilton classes takes up the better half of a day. Thank goodness I have Monday's off of work. For last nights class I had to take a cake that was iced and smoothed along with some colored icing for practicing and decorating our cake. In class I practiced another step in the rose making process, shell borders, faces, drop flowers, swirl flowers and clowns. I should definitely start practicing those swirl flowers, I learned that my wrist just does not want to move the way it needs to.
My instructor tells me I am doing great job and she thinks that I am way to much of a perfectionist. The top of the cake was iced white and the sides were iced in purple. There is a white shell border on the bottom and two lazy (possibly drunk) clowns surrounded by grass with a few drop flowers on top.
Next week is the final class of Course 1. I will learn how to finish making the rose and will also learn a couple new flowers. I am excited to end this course so I can start the second one!
I used new recipes this week so I will share them with you here. I found a recipe for Chocolate Cake on KAF's (King Arthur Flour) website and filled it with coconut cream. The people at my husbands work devoured this cake and said it tasted much better than last week's
Chocolate Cake
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup coffee or water
4 large eggs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour your choice of pan(s): one 9" x 13" pan, two 9" round pans, three 8" round pans, or the wells of two muffin tins. You can also line the muffin tins with papers, and spray the insides of the papers.
1. Place a strainer over a large mixing bowl. Measure in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Sift/shake the dry ingredients through the strainer into a mixing bowl, to eliminate any lumps.
2. Add the butter and mix at low speed for 1 minutes. With the mixer running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sand.
3. Combine the vanilla with the milk and coffee or water, and add all at once. Mix for 1 minute at low speed, stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix for 30 seconds more.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well at medium-high speed between additions.
5. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, and mix for 1 minute more. The batter will be thin.
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan of your choice. For layers, divide the batter among the pans. Smooth out the tops of the layers with an offset spatula or the back of a tablespoon. For cupcakes, scoop by the heaping 1/4 cup into the prepared muffin tins.
7. Bake for 34 minutes for a 9" x 13" pan; 28 to 30 minutes for 9" layers; 24 to 26 minutes for 8" layers, or 21 to 23 minutes for cupcakes.
8. The cake is done when the top springs back when very lightly touched in the center, and the edges just begin to pull away from the edge of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a rack to cool before removing it from the pan.
Coconut Cream Filling
Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 box instant coconut cream pudding
1/8 cup coconut
Directions
Beat heavy cream and sugar with a mixer on medium high speed until mixture thickens. Fold in dry pudding and coconut. Let mixture sit in refrigerator for 20 minutes or until ready to use.
Along with the Light Wheat Rolls that I made for my coworker I also made a couple batches of these rolls. I wanted the guests at the wedding to have a choice of white or whole wheat but I also wanted to try out a couple new recipes. I liked this recipe because it was relatively quick to make and the ingredients were common pantry staples.
I made one batch of these following the original recipe and then I ran out of white flour so I made another batch with half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. The dough rose very quickly and had a really nice soft and velvety texture when shaping. Both batches turned out great. The rolls rose high and tasted delicious. I think that next time I make these I will try to sub butter for the shortening and see if they come out the same.
Pillow-Soft Dinner Rolls
Adapted from: Taste Of Home
~makes 24 rolls~
Ingredients
4-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
2 cups warm milk (110° to 115°)
6 tablespoons shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
7 to 7-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, eggs, sugar, salt and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (dough will be sticky). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a roll. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.
Last evening was my second class in my Wilton 1 course. For class I had to take a cake that was torted, filled, and iced. I also had to take icing for practicing and colored icing for decorating my cake. During class I learned how to make stars, lines, dots, writing and also started building the rose. After practicing those designs for awhile I was able to start decorating my own cake.
I originally wanted to make a cake with red white and blue stars on it that was patriotic but I remembered that my instructor said black and red were the hardest colors to mix. So I just grabbed a couple colors and got to mixing. The end result is what I am calling a shooting star cake. :)
A few things that I learned this week. After making a last minute trip to the store I learned to buy Crisco in bulk, not those easy 1 cup sticks, go ahead and buy the big mongo tub. Afterall it only takes a second to measure. Buy lots of powdered sugar too, you will also need more of this than you think you will. Icing consistency matters, my "medium" was really super stiff and hard to pipe. I learned to just add a bit more water and mix it up well. I also think I need to buy some "butter flavor" I only used vanilla this time and thought it was good but something was missing. My instructor showed me the Wilton 8" x 3" cake pan. It is amazing! If you use a boxed cake it holds an entire box mix and bakes up beautifully (especially if you use the bake-even strips). Last but not least, the Wilton Bake-Easy non-stick spray is my new bestest friend. :)
This past weekend I put on my apron and got to work in the kitchen. I got home from work at noon and had to have 100 rolls baked and delivered by five. My mission was simple, I volunteered to make dinner rolls for a wedding of a coworkers daughter (although the daughter is also a co-worker). At first count they were expecting 50 people and at final count the number almost doubled with 90 confirmed guests. I had a lot to do and not much time to do it. I chose this recipe from allrecipes because it had many great reviews and called for ingredients that I already had at home.
This recipe was very easy to follow and would be great for someone working with yeast for the first time. The dough rose quickly and beautifully and felt like the perfect consistency as I was shaping the rolls. Speaking of shaping the rolls. I thought that rolling the dough up and baking it in a muffin tin was a quite genius idea but since these rolls would be served at a wedding I decided to roll the dough up, flatten it on top to make sure it was even and bake it on a baking sheet. I chose a stone ground wheat flour to help add some texture to the rolls and brushed the finished product with melted butter with a splash of honey. I did manage to sneak a roll before I delivered them to the wedding and they were quite delicious.
Light Wheat Rolls
Adapted from AllRecipes.com
~makes approx. 24 rolls~
Ingredients
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, beaten
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted (optional)
Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Mix sugar, salt, 1/4 cup melted butter, egg, and whole wheat flour into yeast mixture. Stir in all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Punch down dough, cover, and let rise in warm place until doubled again, about 30 minutes.
Grease 2 dozen muffin cups. Punch down dough, and divide into two equal portions. Roll each into a 6x14 inch rectangle, and cut rectangle into twelve 7x1 inch strips. Roll strips up into spirals, and place into muffin cups. Brush tops with melted butter. Let rise uncovered in a warm place 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and brush again with melted butter.
*If you would like to freeze the rolls, bake for 8 minutes, remove from the oven, allow to cool, bag, and freeze. Then when ready to use, thaw and finish the baking process.
I have always wanted to take the Wilton cake decorating classes but never had any free weeknights to do it. Now that I am done with school and have a little spare time I decided that a nice graduation present to myself would be to take the classes. Last night was my first session of course 1. In class we learned about the 3 different consistencies of icing, how to properly assemble a pastry bag, how level a cake, how to fill and ice a cake to prepare it for decoration, and also how to color the icing.
After the class the instructor guided the students into the store (Hobby Lobby) to pick out some items that we would need for the rest of the classes. I bought a few things at the store and came home and combined it with the items that I already had. Here are most of the supplies that I have accumulated so far. :)
Course 1 book, 12 pack of icing colors, Tip# 789, Piping Gel, Flower nail, Clear vanilla flavoring, 8" X 3" round cake pan, Bake Easy non-stick spray, 4 pack of couplers, piping bag ties, cake leveler, 16" featherweight bag, and the 50 piece tool caddy decorator set that is packed full of tips and other necessary items.
I am extremely excited about these courses and I can not wait until next week when I get to start practicing the different design elements and decorate a cake with them. Check back weekly because I plan on posting weekly updates of my decorated cakes and maybe even some new cake recipes.
