Brooke's Bombshell Brownies

Still pining for chocolate a week after Valentine's Day, so I decided to make brownies! I found a recipe called Brooke's Bombshell Brownies from Allrecipes' site. Please click here for the original recipe.

My modifications:
- I tend to like to make things in bite-sized portions (otherwise, I keep telling myself, "Just one more spoonful" and wind up eating most of a dish!) So I baked these in little muffin liners, filling each one about 2/3 of the way up, and baked for about 25-30 minutes (as opposed to 35-40 mins). This yielded 10 cupcake brownies.
- I halved the recipe, and used 1 cup (instead of 1.5 cups) sugar. I also used 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2/3 cup white (instead of all white).
- I only had chocolate "disks" instead of chips, so I coarsely chopped these. For three brownies, I also added some white chocolate. Finally, I topped all brownies with a chocolate disk.
- I omitted the salt and used margarine instead of butter.

My thoughts:
These were so easy to make, and a definite crowd pleasure. The chocolate chunks are the perfect contrast to the soft gooey brownies, and they really hit the spot when you're hit with a serious chocolate craving! Perfect at room temperature or straight out of the oven.

[ Update ] Indian Potato Salad

Good afternoon, my fellow friends!

I apologize for letting my blog fall to the wayside yet again (I know, how many times have I said that now?). I've (still) had my hands full for the past while and haven't had much time to document each and every cooking adventure. However, rest assured that I haven't stopped cooking and do so every time my schedule allows me to!

Last night, for example, I made Indian Potato Salad from Food Network's site again.

What I used, with modifications in brackets: (Note: I doubled the original recipe)
·  6 tbsp grape seed oil
·  1 cup chopped red onion
·  3 tbsp chopped garlic
·  2 chopped tomato
·  2 tsp turmeric
·  1 tsp whole mustard seeds (instead of 2 tsp of brown mustard seeds)
·  1/2 tsp cumin seeds (instead of 2 “pinches”)
·  1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers (my own addition)

·  3 tbsp curry powder (instead of 6 tbsp dried curry leaves)

·  1 tsp cardamom seeds

·  pinch of salt

·  2 lb baby red potatoes, washed and cut into quarters

·  3/4 cup low-fat sour cream (instead of 2 cups regular sour cream)

·  1/2 cup mayonnaise (my own addition)

·  1/3 cup water, optional**

My thoughts:

Oh my. Where do I even begin? This was such a hit amongst my family and it was hands down one of the best potato salads I have ever had/made. I really have to hand it to Bal Arneson, the creator of this recipe. This was far better than my initial attempt at this recipe. It is the perfect blend of spices, and the flavours really explode in your mouth. I highly recommend this if you love curry!

As an aside, I got the mustard seeds at my local bulk food store; they did not come in powder form, only whole, so that was what I bought. With the mustard seeds in a bag, I attempted to crush them by pounding on the bag with a hammer but to no avail! I was in a pinch for time, so I used them whole. Fortunately, after cooking, these did soften up a fair bit, so don't worry about anyone choking on the seeds.

Also, I discovered that if you cut your potatoes into smaller chunks, it absorbs more water and as a result, you may not need to add water. The particular variety of potato that you use also probably affects how much water you need, so use your own discretion in determining how much water, if any, to add.

I wish we hadn't all devoured the whole thing so quickly so that I could've taken a picture to show you all. But is definitely going into my regular rotation of salads, so I will take one next time.

That is all for now, my friends. Happy cooking!

-KG

Indian Potato Salad

Hello, my fellow foodies!

I was watching "Spice Goddess" on the Food Network while at the gym the other day, and Bal Arneson (the chef) was making Indian Potato Salad. I was seriously salivating while I was huffing and puffing through my workout, but the thought that I would have some room to "reward" myself afterwards with some exotic, spicy Indian potato salad was good motivation.

Here is the original recipe, courtesy of Food Network Canada.

My modifications:
·  Omitted brown mustard seeds
·  Omitted dried curry leaves (instead, just gave it a few sprinkles of curry powder)
·  Added 1/2 tsp of salt
·  Added 1/2 cup of whipped salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
·  Used cardamom instead of cardamom seeds (not sure if they're the same thing)
·  Used cumin instead of cumin seeds (again, not sure if they're the same thing)

My thoughts:
I didn't make this until about a week after I'd watched the segment on Food Network because we didn't have red potatoes. I finally found the time to pick some up this week and give this recipe a try.

This was super delish, and fairly quick and easy to make.. two thumbs up! This recipe gets bonus points because it allows you to make some pretty significant changes without compromising the turn-out.

In hindsight, I think the addition of chopped green onions just prior to serving as well as bacon bits would have really given this a nice kick. Of course, adding bacon bits makes this less Indian-style. Anyway, this was such a hit last night that I plan on making this again tonight!

I would love to hear how yours turned out. Happy cooking :)

-KG

Fra Diavolo Sauce With Pasta and Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Hi all!

I'm very sorry for being M.I.A. lately. I have had a lot going on lately, but I finally managed to put some time aside to make pasta and pulled pork.

Fra Diavolo Sauce with Pasta (click here for the recipe from Food Network Canada)

My modifications:

- I did not add oil while cooking the pasta, and so I only used a total of 1 tablespoon for this recipe.

- I added 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning, a splash of brandy, a dash of garlic powder, a dash of ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 chopped fresh basil leaf and 1 tsp of minced garlic while sauteeing the seafood. I served with some grated Parmesan.

- I don't like my pasta too chunky, so I pureed the tomatoes.

My thoughts:

- I don't think adding that tablespoon while cooking the pasta would have helped the flavour in any way, so why add the extra calories?

- All the extra seasonings/herbs/condiments I added were necessary, I felt. With these modifications, I thought this dish was just okay. Without them, I would imagine the dish would be quite bland.

- I felt it needed a deeper cheese flavour like Asiago or mozzarella. I didn't have these on hand, otherwise I would've added them.

- I only had frozen cooked shrimp. Uncooked shrimp would have definitely given better results, as all the flavours would have penetrated the shrimp better than the cooked variety.

- Overall, a mediocre dish. I think more oil is needed, not while cooking the pasta, but to saute the seafood. Cheese and more seasonings/herbs are definitely needed.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork (click here for the original recipe from All Recipes) 

My thoughts:

Okay, I made one huge mistake. I cooked the pork (I used pork butt instead of tenderloin) in both the root beer and BBQ sauce, instead of cooking it in the root bear and adding the BBQ sauce at the end, as per the recipe's instructions. The result? An overly-sweet sauce. I attempted to rectify this by dumping another half a bottle of BBQ sauce, but the dish could not be salvaged. (My guests said they enjoyed this dish, but declined in taking home leftovers.)

 

Would I make this again? Possibly, but I would definitely scale this down a lot; for even 5 guests, this yieldd a lot of food. And, of course, I would definitely make sure to add the BBQ sauce at the end!

Next up...

Hello all!

I came across some blogs while surfing through other Food Network users' food photos, and came across these:

Cheesy Spinach Macaroni (link)
Lemon Ricotta Souffles (link)

They both look divine. The latter link is an adaptation from another recipe. Here is the link to the original recipe:

Sweet Cheese Souffle with Compote of Cherries (link)

From skimming the ingredients, I think I have more of the original recipe's ingredients. I can't wait to try these out!!

-KG

Banana Crumb Muffins

Bonjour, bonjour, toute le monde!

Let me start off by saying that I actually took a photo for this recipe, Banana Crumb Muffins! Yay :) Actually, I baked mine in a loaf pan, so technically, it was banana bread, and also, I didn’t remember to take the photo until after cutting and eating a slice (whoops!). But a picture nonetheless, lol!

Anyway, please click here for the original recipe, courtesy of Allrecipes.com.

My modifications:
·  To compensate for using an 9-inch loaf pan, I baked mine for 45 minutes (without changing the oven temperature).
·  To cut down on calories, I did not make a crumb topping and reduced the sugar from 3/4 cup to 2/3 cup.
·  I used 1/3 cup white and 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of all white.
·  I used 3 extra-ripe bananas and blended them to save me a bit of work.
·  To give it a richer flavour, I added 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 3/4 tsp cinnamon.

The result:
...was fantastic! I have made this numerous times, and it has never failed me. I really recommend this one if you love bananas! I'd love to hear how yours turned out, so please share :)

-KG

Peppered Shrimp Alfredo

Hello!

I made Peppered Shrimp Alfredo with some adjustments, and it was delicious! Please click here for the original recipe, from Allrecipes.com.

And here is what I did differently...

·  I halved the recipe.

·  I omitted the parsley, Romano cheese and mushrooms because I did them on hand.

·  Instead, I used approximately 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels. While it was cooking, the aroma the dish produced was amazing.

The end result was great and very flavourful. Also, the colour of the corn and the red peppers really added to the presentation. A simple recipe that I will definitely make again. Thanks for reading!

-KG