Ashley and the Chocolate Factory

Over the years I have developed an increasing love for chocolate. As a kid I was not crazy about chocolate. I would much prefer a white cake with white icing (with the exception of a home-made German chocolate cake...but that is different) and I figured who would want a chocolate bar when you could have sour patch kids (I might still feel that way). As I grew older however, I was slowly introduced to the fact that there was more to chocolate than store-bought cakes or a plain Hershey bar. I truly believe that, as a child, your taste buds cannot possibly understand the complexities of dark chocolate. However, dark chocolate is chocolate at it's best and it is what made me a chocolate lover. There is something almost addicting about taking a dark chocolate dove promise and eating it in four tiny little bites. The chocolate is so rich and luscious that you do not even have to chew...you merely let the bite sit in your mouth and let the chocolate infuse your senses with pleasure. Once I discovered that not all chocolate was cheap chocolate...I was hooked. I will still rarely waste my time with store bought chocolate cake and you will rarely see me choosing a Hershey bar to consume, but put a dove promise in front of me or a good slice chocolate cake from the Taste of Texas (another post, another day) and a chocolate fanatic emerges from deep inside me.

These chocolate balls (sorry- there is no other way to describe them) were quite popular this year for the holidays. They are easy to make and fun to gu

ssy up! At the party I first tried them at I was tantalized by their soft, cake like texture surrounded by the hard chocolate shell. The person I was visiting with kept on insisting that it was oreo flavored. Seeing as I had already consumed several other desserts and a huge mug of hot chocolate, my taste buds could not detect that distinct oreo flavor. She was, however, correct.

Take 1 package of Oreos and combine in food processor with 1 regular cream cheese (I like to do this in two batches- keeps it more manage

able).

Place mixture in fridge for at least one hour (the mixture should look like tar).

Melt chocolate bark in microwave.

Use cookie scoop to dish out oreo balls a

nd drop into chocolate.

I like to use a fork to remove the balls and place on wax paper. 

They will be set in about a minute and ready to enjoy or refrigerate them for later.

If you desire, before they set up (this is better with two people) dust some of the balls with Cinnamon or crushed up candy canes.

The other yummy dessert is these chocolate chocolate chip cookies that I found the recipe for online. 

The recipe is good but I make two modifications.

 First, add a dash of cinnamon to the recipe. Second, I like to use a combo of regular chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips. The two have different temperatures at which they melt at thus creating  different textures in the cookie. This makes a big batch so you can be ready to share...or not...!

Friends and lasagna

Tonight we had the Westphals over for dinner. We know them through Mattie's sister McKay. Katrina lived with McKay and when we found out that Katrina and her husband Scott were living in Houston we thought they would be good people to spend time with. We enjoy both of them, but really enjoy Katrina because her laugh makes you feel really good inside! It is a genuine and infectious laugh!

Besides the great company and fellowship, I made lasagna! Lasagna is one of the few recipes given to me by my mother. My mom cooked very little growing up (although  I love what she would make, especially macaroni noodles with canned, diced

 tomatoes), but she always made two things for special occasions (or on request): german chocolate cake and lasagna. Her recipe follows:

"Cheese" Filling:

1 egg

1 lb small curd cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 med. bell pepper (chopped)

1 med onion (chopped)

Mix and refrigerate.

Meat sauce:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

2 lb canned tomatoes (diced is fine)

3 6 ox cans tomato paste

Parsley

Garlic

1 med. onion

Salt, Pepper, and Oregano to taste.

Brown beef and onion. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for one hour.

Cheese:

1/2 lb shredded mozzarella with a little romano or parmesan added.

Noodles:

Boil a 1 lb box of lasagna noodles.

Assemble:

Thin layer of meat sauce. Layer of noodles. Cheese mixtu

re. Shredded cheese. Noodles. Meat Sauce. Cheese mixture. Shredded Cheese. Noodles. Meat Sauce. Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. Let stand for 

ten minutes. Although it is better if you make it the day before and let is stand until the next day. 

We didn't take any pics of the lasagna so here is us at Aggie football instead!

I promise I posted...then it disappeared...

So much wonderful food in my life....

I would first like to say that although I loved the experience of working in the food industry (because in so many ways it has made me the person that I am today), I am so much more excited about the fact that Mattie and I have nights off together more often than not. Added bonus to having nights off is the fact that there are all sorts of wonderful meals that I can tell the world (however small this one might be) about.

So, Valentines Day.

I did not cook! Mattie told me he wanted to cook dinner for me. We have a standing rule not to add to the stress and chaos of Valentine's Day by going to a sit down restaurant. Which was a good thing because we heard there was atleast a two hour wait at most places. Which would not have been a fun option to have been waiting (and still have a long wait ahead of you) when the torrential downpour started here in Cypress. I searched the web high and low for something wonderful (and not awfully challenging) for Matt to make. I settled on a few and emailed them to him to choose from. However, once Saturday rolled around he had worked until 4, I had been grading papers all day, and both of us were running a little behind schedule on getting stuff for dinner ready. With all of this mounting up against us, we were about to go get groceries with the aforementioned downpour began. While we are not daunted by the rain, we are hesitant to do all of our grocery shopping in a downpour for the simple fact of having to carry the groceries out and put them in the car. So

 we went to plan B.

Plan B.

We called up Wood-Fired Pizza around the corner. This pizza is expensive, but very good. I will have to devote a blog to all the wonderful pizza's in my life where Wood-Fired will be included...it doesn't get first place though (that honor goes to Lombardi's in NYC). Wood-Fired is wonderfully authentic in that it actually takes time to make your pizza...their oven is only so big. So they kindly offered to call us when our pizza was being put in the oven. We had time to run to Blockbuster and grab a few movies (we truly enj

oy the 3 for $20 deal) and into Kroger for salad stuff and ice cream (vanilla...more on that later). We had our salad and pizza while watching Wedding Crashers (so romantic...I know). The vanilla ice cream was a very special part of the meal though. My mom sent us a Godiva chocolate brownie with dark chocolate chunks! We warmed part of it up, let the vanilla ice cream ooze over the brownie, covered it in chocolate syrup and waited for the chocolate overload to set in. The brownie was amazingly fudgy and chocolate filled. The vanilla ice cream was needed to add the cold texture

 without overpowering the chocolate brownie.

Mattie's Meal!!!

Sunday (the next day) Matt went ahead and made me my special dinner. We decided on Rachel Ray's Bruschetta Topped, Parmesan Crusted Chicken served with Gnocchi and wilted spinach. The option was good. Our only mutual "complaint" was that we wished we had used chicken cutlets (so it would have cooked faster) or cooked at 

a lower temperature because the parmesan (while delicious when nutty and seared) got a little too toasty for our liking. While I can make gnocchi, because this was Matt's meal, we bought pre-made gnocchi. There is a fairly good brand (we have found it at Kroger) from a company called Dellallo. We are also finding that we really enjoy fresh spinach that we just barely sautee, throw into salads, or wilt into pasta. We continued to eat on the Godiva brownie that night, but tried it with a "Mediterranean Mint" gelato from the grocery store. It was too flavorful to let the brownie stand out, so we prefer the vanilla (and switched back to vanilla the next night). 

All in all, it was a good Valentine's Day weekend!

we now interrupt your regularly scheduled programing...

I will post soon...promise...too much good food to write about...

Chinese food alludes me

Without realizing it, I made Chinese food at a perfectly appropriate time seeing as tomorrow is Chinese New Year. Maybe you can use this information to help you celebrate a wonderful culture!

For all of you who think that College Station is not an incredibly rich and diverse metroplex, I would have to tend to disagree with you. I assure you that diversity and culture can be found if you only know where to look for it. One place that this diversity can be found is in off-campus housing that is ran by the TAMU campus. This complex of housing allows the multitude of international students who have chosen TAMU as their place of study to live comfortably and affordably near campus. One only has to walk by the off-campus housing to smell the cooking that seeps through the always open windows and doors. If you have the opportunity to make friends with an international at TAMU, do so. Your stomach will be very thankful. Matt and his family had a wonderful Chinese family that befriended them in College Station. This family was so  appreciative of Matt's parents and the whole family's friendship that they would often make Chinese food for the whole gang. Family stories also have been told that Li Xin felt so sorry for Martin (who is very thin) while Deb was in her Masters and Ph.D. program that she wanted to cook for the family as often as possible so Martin could grow big and strong. I was first introduced to Li Xin food (we cannot call it Chinese because you would automatically assume that it is like the food that is delivered to your door...I assure you...it is not) when Matt and I were dating my freshman year. The day after he and his family were invited over for dinner, Mattie brought home a huge tupperware full of delectable treats for us to share for our own meal that night. I had never tasted "Chinese" food that was so fresh. The fried rice gave an appropriate lingering of mouth feel (which either the Chinese or Japanese consider to be a sixth sense) with a very light oil texture. It should not be confused with the lingering oil taste available at your own mall food court. It was fresher and not overpowering to the rice and vegetables that were in your bite of food. Her homemade California rolls left nothing to be desired and really were the perfect amount of vegetables and sticky rice rolled together. The dumplings were plump and usually filled with a flavorful ground pork. All of this would be accompanied by some sort of stir fry that seemed to endlessly fill everyone's plates (including mine when I was "becoming" part of the family). Her hospitality could be matched by no other and it was sad for us all when we watched her and her family leave for a wonderful work opportunity in North Carolina. Although Deb is in contact with her and we enjoy hearing the stories of Li Xin and her family, none of us can hide the fact that we would love to have her near serving us some of her wonderful food.

This being said, I have tried many times to attempt making any type of Chinese food that resembled even what you can get in foil and tin containers. Partial success was mine this evening when I tried Guy Fieri's recipe for BBQ Pork Fried Rice. I altered the recipe a bit, mainly by using frozen stir fry vegetables instead of fresh.

 If you choose this route (which I recommend for economic and time allowances), microwave your vegetables a bit and let them drain some of their water before tossing them in a pan. Also, I do not own a wok (we bought one once, used it once, had the pan ru

st on us, and we took it back) so I used my "short" stock pot instead. Lastly, if you wanted to do the same concept with chicken (yum...) or shrimp (oh, baby...) I am sure it would be just as tasty and much quicker as well!

In addition to the rice and pork I made an "a

sian" slaw. 

Thinly slice about 1 1/2 cups of red cabbage (or green), one stalk of celery (on a bias or angle), shred two carrots, and chop some green onions into a bowl.

Sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste.

Thrown in a bit of low-sodium soy sauce, red wine vinegar, a "squeeze" of honey, and a splash of orange juice.

Mix to combine, taste, and adjust ingredients as needed.

Toss with a tablespoon or so of sesame seeds.

Refrigerate or serve immediately.

I hope you try it or consider trying it and if anyone wants to chip in for a plane ticket to get Li Xin to come visit...let me know :O)

Ay carumba!

Recently (as in last year) we discovered (at my dad's christmas party) a wonderful new dip made by one of their friends. Many of you may have had the dip before. The dip is buffalo wing dip and tastes like yummy and delicious buffalo wings that you can put on a chip (we prefer fritos- the crunchy corn flavor lends a lot to the tanginess of the wing dip). The dip itself is pretty basic. 

Heat up two cans of canned chicken

Add one package of cream cheese and 6 oz of tabasco like 

sauce

Add 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing

Let everything melt together

Place in slow cooker on low with 3/4 of shredded cheddar cheese on top.

We made the dip without chicken for a vegetarian friend of ours and it was just as good

but spicier because the chicken was not there to soak up

 the tabasco sauce.

We made this dip for our friends this past weekend. However, because they asked everyone to bring a dip, there was a ton of it leftover. My dad, Mattie, and I had been throwing around the idea of making the dip into a topping for chicken, which eventually led into the idea of making buffalo chicken enchiladas. The idea was simple. 

I took onions (1/2 of a medium- diced) and cut up chicken breasts (2.5 good size breasts) and sauteed it in a pan with olive oil. We salted and peppered the chicken and when it was cooked through we deglazed the pan with 1/3 of a bottle of beer (we used...you guessed it- Shiner Cheer) and then added four big spoons (serving spoons) of the wing dip to the hot pan. When the mixture was hot and bubbly, I rolled the chicken it flour tortillas, topped with the remaining sauce that was in the pan, and covered it in cheddar/ monteray jack cheese. Put the (about 8) enchiladas in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes then enjoy. We really liked it with a bit of avocado, rice, beans, and sauteed squash and zucchini. The enchiladas were by no means mexican, but could work very well for our international (and future international) readers out there. Enjoy! 

Quick update

I will just write a few things...but I have a lot more coming. 

We try to take full advantage of yellow, orange, and 

red bell peppers when they are on sale and they

were recently. We decided in order to fully appreciate the pepper we would make stuffed

bell peppers. I thawed some of our free-range ground venison (we figure hunted is pretty much free range) and sauteed it with onions and mushrooms, parsley, salt, pepper, and garlic. We added parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and stuffed the filling inside our peppers (which had been lightly salted and peppered). We baked those in the oven until the peppers were "squeezable" with tongs. Served with a nice, light salad we had a really great dinner. It was an easy meal and a great meal to fully enjoy those beautiful peppers.

The Sunday before Christmas, one of our good friends (Crystal) came over and we made cookies, mint fudge, and Chex puppy chow. We had a great time decorating both plain sugar and frosted sugar cookies and we are thinking about having a cookie decorating party next year, complete with a cookie decorating competition. 

Additionally, we had several great Christmas meals with family. My dad made a rack of lamb that had a delicious mustard, spice, and bread crumb crust. I like that my dad always makes a bit of a formal Christmas dinner. It has almost always been our tradition growing up to have a relaxed and casual meal Christmas Eve and a big, formal (straight out of Charles Dickens) Christmas meal. On a more personal note, Mattie and I had our very first Christmas morning all alone this year after being together for 7 years and married for almost 4 1/2 years. We had belgian waffles made in our regular waffle iron (the Krustaez mix works really well). We had leftover pear and cranberry pie from the night before so I scooped out all of the filling and heated it in a non stick pan with some maple flavored syrup to put over our waffles. It was very good and I highly recommend trying it with any of your leftover pie filling. 

Like I said, much more to come...we have vacation food pictures from Quebec!