Cupcakes

So I am excited I finally got to use the Kitchen Aid Ryan and I got from Maw-maw & Paw-paw. I have been wanting to bake sometime and so I wanted to try out one of the Sprinkles cupcake mixes we got from Daniel and Ann from one of our showers. I do enjoy baking but I tend to not eat what I bake. I have one and then I'm done and just want others to eat the rest.

Claudia helped me make the Red Velvet Sprinkles cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. That mix sure is red!!!! The mix also got everywhere and turns anything it touches red too so if you use it- just be careful! Overall, I would say that they turned out nicely. Just as big and looked almost as nice as the real Sprinkles cupcakes. I was proud of them. I really like their cream cheese frosting recipe and will re-use that again with other cupcakes/goodies. Still have the double chocolate mix in the pantry- will try those out sometime!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I wanted to make Pumpkin cupcakes. We made a trip to the store, made our way through the crazy crowd (note to self: stock up on campbells cream of mushroom waaayy before Thanksgiving), got home, started to make the cupcakes in the Kitchen Aid, and realized I forgot to get pumpkin for the pumpkin cupcakes.... back to the store, rushed through while Ryan circled the parking lot, got ALL the needed ingredients, back to the house, and got back to mixing. I got the recipe from another blog I like to check out from time to time- it's the same one where I got the homemade oreo recipe from: Smitten Kitchen. I used the same cream cheese recipe from the Sprinkles mix above and added a hint of maple syrup to it for extra flavor. I would make these again.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 stick butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon maple syrup (optional)
Pinch of salt

*cream together cream cheese and butter, add sugar in intervals, mix in vanilla/syrup, and salt at the end
*refrigerate if you want it to firm up

ENJOY- Happy Baking.

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Ca Ri Ga

So I have a ton of posts that I need to catch up on. I told Ryan that we needed to post all these pictures and food that we have. He posted a few things below and I just never did mine.

I was craving some Ca Ri Ga- curry chicken soup. I got a recipe from Wandering Chopsticks blog. I used a whole lot more curry seasoning than it suggested and it turned out fairly well. I used chicken wings and need to use a different kind of meat next time. I also need to add more water next time. Wasn't the best and wasn't as good but not as bad as it could have been! haha. Will work on a better chicken stock and flavor next time!

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Carter & Cooley

Kimmy likes to eat man sandwiches. I think this started with her trying my Bird to the Wise (Pastrami and Turkey) at Jason's Deli a few times, and now she gets it, forcing me to get something else. There's not a Jason's Deli close to us, but a nice substitute we've found is Carter and Cooley's Deli on 19th St. Somehow we always manage to go there on the First Saturday of the month, when that street is packed with shoppers and antiquers.

Kimmy likes to get the pastrami there, on rye with mustard, and I had tried their peppered turkey before and enjoyed it, so I decided to get that again, along with a cup of chili.

Thing we or friends have eaten there before: BLT - not recommended by friends, but how bad could a BLT be?, greek salad - not bad.

I really like the historical maps and photos of the Heights they have on the wall - I always notice something new and I'm interested in Houston history. Whenever we want a nice sandwich and are around that area, we seem to end up there, so I guess you'd call us regulars.

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Lola

We've been wanting to try Lola since it opened a little while ago. It's just down the street in the Heights at 11th and Yale (note: in the dry part of the heights, so it's byob). We got a chance to go a couple weeks ago with the Summer Street crew. They have a nice, small diner menu of entrees, sandwiches, and breakfast served all day.

Brian and I both ordered the Steak frites. The steak wasn't bad, and the parmesan fries were nice, but the best part was the chimichurri sauce that came with it. That made a simple steak really special. Erik ate an open faced roast beef sandwich dysphemized "Wet Roast Beef Debris." It looked like a nice roast beef sandwich, but I would ask for the same parmesan fries that came with the steak frites.

Kimmy wanted to try their chicken and waffles, to see if it would compare with our favorite at the Breakfast Klub, and it didn't quite compare. The waffle was pretty good, but the chicken was pretty dry and didn't have much flavor to it, unlike the chicken wings that come with the Breakfast Klubs giant waffle - still our favorite. A nice place overall, the staff was very friendly and it's a nice casual place to grab a meal anytime. There's still plenty more on the menu that I'm intrigued by, so I'm sure we'll be back sometime.

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Grilled Chicken Skewers

I had made these a long time ago for kimmy at my parents' house, and she requests them every so often because they turned out really great then. This time around they were just ok, or maybe our standards are just higher these days.

I cut up some chicken breast and marinated it in soy, ginger, honey, and lime for a few hours. It's a nice, salty-sweet marinade for chicken. Kimmy helped me put the skewers together, chicken, squash, zucchini, onion, and mushrooms. Next time I need to think like Alton Brown and remember to just make the skewers of each thing separately, because it's too hard to get everything the right size to cook together at the right time. It doesn't look as pretty, but I know it would work better.

Anyway, grilled up the skewers outside while Kimmy cooked a box of soy-ginger noodles I found at the store. The noodles were ok - sauce was a little overpowering and the texture was a little different that we expected.

Overall, a nice, easy meal and a nice excuse to get the grill out.

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Carbonara

This was a clean out the fridge dish. Actually, I was inspired when I was watching Mad Men one day and as the credits rolled by at the end I noticed that the composer of the show's score is David Carbonara. I realized I had everything to make a Carbonara and decided to make it later that week.

While the pasta was cooking, I started with some bacon, thyme and garlic, then added sliced zucchini to that until it was softened. Made the carbonara sauce with lots of parmesan, olive oil, eggs, and lots of pepper. Then when the pasta was cooked, drained it and added it to the pan with the zucchini, tossed it all in the sauce to cook the eggs, and put a little bit of the pasta water back in it to get the texture right.

It turned out ok, I need a little bit more practice to get the proportions right, but we ate plenty of it and I finished the rest off for lunch the next day.

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