My 2 year adventure, week 74: Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs with Quinoa Salad with Peaches/Black Forest Cherry Cake

Week 74:
  I really need to make this blogging thing more consistent. I've been at cooking camp for this last week. Cooking camp ended yesterday so I am back to cook on my own. I made these chicken thighs and they were amazing. I had to take the skin off and the bone out because the boneless ones came in packs of 6 and the bone in ones came in packs of 4. I needed 8, so I got the thighs with the bone in. The spice mix was really good. Garlic powder, chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper.I brushed honey and vinegar during the cooking process.They kind of reminded me of the chicken wings. It was not as spicy as I though it was gonna be but it was delicious. The quinoa salad was nice, but I preferred the chicken.
   The cake was really nice. The filling was whipped cream and a cherry filling. The filling wasn't too sweet, that cake was chocolatey, and the overall cake was amazing. Both dishes got 9.6/10. I think I'll make both dishes again.


 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)

baking for fun: apple cinnamon cupcakes with a meringue topping

I haven't done one of these in a while! It's kind of a shame since I really like baking and it's something I enjoy doing. Anyway, these cupcakes were really delicious and they have a cool take on a traditional topping!
Cupcake
1 1/2 cups (225 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp apple cinnamon tea (or any other tea you like, the original recipe called for chai)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup (125 g) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk  
Meringue
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar

   Alright! Starting off with the cupcake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners (I used silicone, paper works just the same). So for the tea I simply cut open some tea bags and sifted the tea because there were some large chunks that would have been unpleasant to eat. I used 3 tea bags, it might be different for you. Get creative, try different teas! Combine the flour, baking powder, tea, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. With your mixer on low and half of your flour mix, then half the milk, then the remaining flour, and the rest of the milk. Put the batter into the liners, pop the pan in the oven and cook it for 20-25 min (if they aren't fully cooked don't worry, we'll put it back in the oven at a higher heat, they should be mostly done though). When the cupcakes come out, boost up the oven temp to 450 degrees F. 
For the meringue, beat your egg whites and cream of tartar together until you get soft peaks. Then add in the sugar and beat like crazy until you get stiff peaks. Using a star tip, pipe your meringue onto your cupcakes and bake them for 5 minutes at 450 degrees F. Then... they're done! Experiment, enjoy!   

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)

    Note: My meringue didn't get quite as stiff as I had hoped and that's why its all over the place. The burning on the top was almost instant, that was not from overcooking.

My 2 year adventure, week 66: Summer squash and corn chowder with tomato bruschetta

Week 66:
  I haven't blogged in a while but I've been cooking. I made casserole, quesadillas, and etc... So today I made soup. It was corn chowder with some squash, celery, and green onions. They didn't have the type of squash I wanted to use at the store so I used spaghetti squash. Because of the squash texture the soup was a little chunky and stringy. Other than that, it was a little bland, however, it was tasty. 
  I loved the bruschetta, I just kept eating it. It was ok, but it was really addictive. My family gave the dishes an 8/10. 
 

























See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 Year Adventure, week 59: Chicken and guacamole tacos

Week 59:
  Today I made chicken tacos. They were supposed to be tostadas but my local grocery store doesn't sell tostada shells. Instead of using tostada shells (fried, flat, corn tortillas) I just used regular corn tortillas and made them into tacos. 
  Once again, my "talent" returns to wreak havoc. The avocado I picked for my guacamole was super green. Mashing it was supposed to be easy but I could only get the fruit to a decent consistency with a mix of stabbing, mashing, and all sorts of other violent actions. I feel like that could be a new form of anger management, just take your anger out on an avacoado. 
  Despite my awful produce selections, the guacamole was decent. My favorite element was the salsa but although I added a tablespoon of jalapeno pepper, I still didn't quite get a kick.
  The chicken was just oven roasted then shredded and tossed with some lime juice and paprika. I think I over cooked it a little, maybe 2 minutes overdone so it was a little dry. 

  Overall my family gave it a 7.75/10 and that's a pretty 

decent score. 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)

My 2 Year Adventure, week 57: Salmon burgers

Week 57:
  Today I made Salmon burgers. What started off as a nice piece of salmon soon got mangled and dismembered in the food processor. 1/4 pound got mixed with Dijon and grapefruit rind (originally intended to be lemon) and got turned into paste. The other 3/4 pound got coarsely chopped with tarragon, shallots, salt, and pepper. The 2 salmon mixes combines and created 4 beautiful patties. Those hopped on the grill and the burgers were topped off with honey and arugula. There were meant to be onions as well but my dad decided to pickle the remainder of the onion so there was none for me to use. This dish was really simple and easy and my family gave it a 8.5/10. 

  

 See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 Year Adventure, week 56: Asian-style veggie rolls

Week 56:
  So compared to yesterday's meal, today was a much lower strain on the budget. This dish was super fun to make and only cost me $13.31. The rolls are mostly prep work and then they're a breeze. I filled the rolls with lettuce, bean treads (a.k.a. cellophane noodles), bean sprouts, carrot, mint, cilantro, and green onions. The rice paper was pretty easy to handle and I only tore one sheet really badly. The sauce was pretty good. It had a lot of flavors and it was really well balanced. Overall, my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10.

 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 Year Adventure, week 55: Spicy chipotle shrimp salad with an avacado, mango, and pinapple salad/ lattice-topped blackberry cobbler

Week 55:
  Today I made 2 kinds of salad. Firstly, I made a shrimp salad and then to top it off, I made a fruit salad (well, made with fruit). The shrimp salad was the main component though and it tasted pretty good. The only problem was that my local grocery store doesn't sell canned chiles, so I just used chile powder instead of an actual chipotle chile. The problem was mainly with the complementary salad. I think I've mentioned this before, but I genuinely believe I have a talent for picking the greenest fruit possible and then convincing myself that it's super ripe. The mango was soooooooo sour, I was actually kind of tough to eat. Despite my fruit issues my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10. 
 

 

  Secondly, I made a cobbler. Blackberries aren't exactly in season so they were a little on the expensive side. However, when blackberries start coming in by the truckload, this will be a very common dessert at home. This dish gave me the opportunity to test out my new mini food possessor, which was recently given to me as a gift. I ground up some almonds for the dough and it turned out pretty well. The dessert was great. I hadn't done a lattice top in a while so I kind of cheaped out. Instead on doing the traditional, over, under, over, under, I just did the vertical strips first and then placed the horizontal ones on top. It was very good and the only thing lacking was some ice cream. My parents gave it a 9/10 and I have to say, I agree. 

 

See you nest time internet! Love, Alexa :)