Caesar Salad - with your fingers

So Pioneer Woman posted a new recipe for Caesar Salad that you eat with your fingers. I have to admit that I've never eaten Caesar Salad without a fork. And since I'm all about experimentation here at foodiestudent I thought I'd give it a try.

I used a french baguette to make the croutons. I got this loaf from Walmart and it was surprisingly good. It was more dense than the ones from Safeway but was less crusty which made it much less messy to slice. It was perfect for making croutons.

I tried something new with the parmesan. I opted to go with chunks instead of the usual medium grate. I like the texture but I am going through a $14 block of parmesan way too quickly.

Here's the final result. Now, I have to say that the dressing was very easy to make and the croutons were incredibly tasty.

However, I was not a fan of using the full lettuce leaf and eating with my fingers. The issue was with balancing the croutons on the romaine leaves as they were picked up. If the lettuce was cut or torn and eaten with a fork then a balance of lettuce, dressing, crouton, and cheese could be enjoyed with every bite. And I'm all about the balance :)

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

I defy anyone to take a look at this recipe for Caramel Apple Sticky Buns and not start drooling. Even though I don't really like apples, a little voice told me I had to make them or I would forever regret it. Always listen to those little voices.

Diced apples with a sprinkling of lemon juice cus, you know... brown bits are yucky.

Remember this bread/cinnamon roll dough? Well, now is the time to use it. Don't worry, although the blog posts are like a week apart, the making of the sticky buns only happened the day after the cinnamon rolls. The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days so I was within the safety zone.

The caramel sticky sauce starts by melting some butter in a saucepan.

Then I added some brown sugar, white corn syrup (instead of dark), and milk (instead of cream). Trust me, the substitutions made no difference in the final product.

When the caramel sauce starts to boil set it aside to cool.

I won't go over the step by step process of rolling out the dough and making the cinnamon rolls as they are the same for this recipe as for the other cinnamon rolls.

Divide the caramel sticky sauce into two well greased 9 or 10 inch round cake pans.

Top with the diced apples.

Place the cut cinnamon rolls in the pans on top of the apples. Let them rise for about half an hour and then bake.

Ahhhh, baked yumminess :)

Flip the bunch of them over onto a plate and watch the ooey gooey goodness overflow. I covered these with plastic wrap and took them into the office. I was worried that with so many sticky buns I'd be taking some home at the end of the day. However, I went to check on them at lunch time and they were all gone. They were, most definitely, a huge hit.

Lessons learned were exactly one..... that is to divide the rolls into three pans, not two. Two pans were just too full and caramel sauce overflowed during the baking process which resulted in the following.....

Burning and smokiness. Didn't affect the buns but made the kitchen smoky-stinky.

Would I make these again? TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY YES! I only had one but it was very yummy and, judging by the speed by which the others were claimed, the others were yummy too.

Baked Beans - messing with the canned stuff

Beans have always been a heat and serve proposition in my life. I never realized there were possibilities beyond that. So something funny happened to my insides when I saw this baked bean recipe on PW's website. Beans, veggies, bacon... all good for the foodiestudent.

So what have I got to lose?

Green peppers and onions. These were done in the food processor. The food processor slices but it does not dice. So inspite of the recipe specifically calling for diced peppers and onions.... too bad! I've been in the kitchen cooking and baking all day and I'm taking the easy route.

Bacon is a rarity in my house. It's not that I don't love the taste... cus I do. It's not that I'm concerned about the sodium and nitrates... cus I'm not. It's because I don't like the bacon grease film that coats the stove top, counter, and me after I cook it.

But the recipe calls for bacon and I suffer for my art ;)

This bacon is WAY undercooked. But the recipe said to way undercook it. I'm obedient :)

I drained off a little of the bacon grease and added the sliced onion and green pepper.

Fast forward 5 minutes and they are nicely sauteed. Time to add the key ingredient.....

... BEANS!!!! These are Heinz, straight from the can. I added the remaining ingredients... barbeque sauce, dijon mustard, brown sugar, and cider vinegar. After a minute or two it started to simmer which was my cue to pour the mix into a greased casserole dish. Then it was topped with the undercooked bacon and baked at 325 for 2 hours.

Yup, 2 hours. This baked for a looooooooong time. When all was said and done, it was very yummy. A little sweeter than expected (with BBQ sauce and sugar, I should have guessed) and the sauce was very thick as much of the liquid had evaporated. The peppers and onion are a minor component to the dish and you can't even taste them. The bacon on top was absolutely perfect though. Definitely cooked but not burned.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it. But given the 2 hour cooking time I'm not sure I'd make it again. Who has that kind of time for a side dish except at Christmas? So unless someone requests beans with their turkey this year, this recipe will be passed by many many times.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Weeza has requested my recipe for cream cheese frosting. I got this recipe when I first made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls but wanted a more Cinnabon-like frosting. So I did what every good foodiestudent would do... I googled Cinnabon frosting :)

Here are the ingredients. Icing sugar, margarine, cream cheese, vanilla, and lemon juice. I was only making 1/2 the recipe so I used just 1/2 a bag of icing sugar and a cup each of margarine and cream cheese.

Very important step.... wait for the margarine and cream cheese get to room temperature. I have tried mixing them right out of the fridge and now I'm in therapy.

The recipe I found was absolutely adamant that margarine, not butter, be used in this recipe. I didn't fully understand why but there was no doubt that in this case butter was to be avoided and margarine embraced. However, I have seen similar recipes that call for butter instead of margarine. So who are we supposed to believe? That's a question for another day. Today we are using margarine.

See how nicely the cream cheese and margarine mix together? That's because they are room temperature. :)

It's time to add the icing sugar. Please learn this lesson from foodiestudent.... turn the mixer down to low. The lowest possible setting. Add the icing sugar to the bowl one spoonful at a time. It will mix together quickly but won't explode out of the bowl in an icing sugar snowstom which is what will happen if the mixer is on a higher speed. This I have learned. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides when needed.

When the icing sugar has all been added turn the mixer on medium or medium-high and let it do its thing for 12 minutes. This will make the frosting super smooth and......

...strangely, it's a lighter colour. The frosting is much whiter now. Weird!

Once again, learn a lesson from foodiestudent, when the 12 minutes of high speed mixing are done, turn the mixer down to low. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and lemon juice and barely mix until they have incorporated into the frosting. If you overmix or mix at a higher speed the frosting becomes curdled. And curdled is bad.

Grab the two cinnamon buns closest to you and top with a dollop or two of the frosting. Enjoy :)

Cinnamon Rolls - Pioneer Woman's recipe

My cinnamon roll recipe has been a hit since the first time I made them. I give all respect and acknowledgement to Pioneer Woman. Her recipe (with fabulous photo instructions, as she always provides) can be found here.

Pioneer Woman uses a maple frosting to cover her rolls. I'm not a fan of maple flavor so I use a different frosting which I will demonstrate in a future post.

But for now, let's go through the steps of making cinnamon rolls.....

The dough is the same recipe as for white bread dough. So if you want to make this recipe and use half for bread buns and half for cinnamon buns, well, that would be smart. I've done that a few times :)

Start by scalding milk, sugar, and oil.

When the mixture has been scalded and then cooled for an hour or so add some yeast and flour. I use white bread flour but all-purpose will work. Mix them all together and let the mixture sit for an hour. It will rise a bit so make sure it is in a large enough bowl to allow for expansion.

After the mixture has risen add in another cup of flour, some salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Kneading isn't really necessary but will help incorporate the ingredients together when the mixture gets stiff. This picture shows HALF of the final dough mixture.

And I wanted to accommodate Weeza's request of showing an additional item in the pictures to give an idea of scale. Philly cream cheese packages are a fairly recognizable size and shape so I hope this works for you :)

Roll the dough out into a rectangle. This looks less like a rectangle than a Weeble that wobbles but has fallen down on its side. But the intention is to make a rectangle. Good luck with yours :)

The recipe calls for about a cup of melted butter but I find that to be too messy and too rich... 2/3 of a cup is plenty. Drizzle the melted butter all over the dough except for the front inch or so. Then sprinkle a cup of sugar all over and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. I don't measure the cinnamon... just sprinkle until I think it's good enough :) Again, avoid the front inch of the dough.

Pioneer Woman doesn't add nuts or raisins here and neither do I. But if you had a nut or raisin deficiency that needed to be addressed in your diet then now would be the time to take care of that.

And.... we're rolling! Start at the end farthest from you and tightly roll the dough towards you. You'll thank me when you get to the end and you pinch to seal the front end of the dough to the roll. Keeping that final strip of dough free of butter and sugar makes it easier to seal dough to dough. Sealing dough to buttery dough is significantly harder.

I tried to get the whole roll in this shot but couldn't quite manage it. Anyways, the sealed roll is longer than the length of the rolled out dough from a few pictures above. That's because once it's all rolled up you will probably notice some thicker and thinner parts. It's best to even those out by lifting and gently stretching the thicker sections. The end result produces a longer roll than you started out with. Make sure you have the counter space to do this.

With a sharp knife, slice the rolls about 1 inch thick. For 1/2 the dough you'll have enough rolls to fill three 10" round cake or pie pans.

Let the pans sit for about 30 minutes to rise and then bake for 15-18 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Here they are, all baked and yummy. The two pans on the right are 10", regular, Wilton brand cake pans. The rolls in those pans were fully cooked in about 15 minutes. The ones in the disposable pan on the left needed another 3 or 4 minutes to brown. Interesting! I learned a foodiestudent lesson when I didn't even do an official experiment :)

I took 2 cinnamon buns because they were the smallest of the bunch. Don't judge me! :)

A little yummy frosting on top and these were consumed with much haste.

Thank-you, Pioneer Woman, for this recipe. I love it and have had this recipe requested many times. Now that I have made a batch I will try not to make them again until Christmas. Or at least Thanksgiving. Okay, maybe Labor Day. Wait, that's in a few days. Yup, I can definitely wait until Labor Day :)

Oh, and what happened to the other half of the dough?

It continued to grow and prosper in its own way. Stay tuned for the adventures of the rest of the dough......

Fettuccine Alfredo.... kind of

I love fettuccine alfredo as much as the next guy. Maybe more! The hearty creaminess. The cheesy wonderment. The versatility of additions to the dish. The ability of the dish to serve as either side dish or main course. Besides the caloric count, what's not to love? :)

I found this posting on Pioneer Woman's site and decided it looked simple enough for anyone, even a foodiestudent, to attempt. Check it out then come back and keep reading :)
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/07/fettuccine-alfredo/

I can do that, right? So here we go.....

I didn't have any fettuccine but I had it's cousin, spaghetti. And I didn't have any heavy cream but I had skim milk. That'll work, right? Keep reading and find out :)

Now, I normally don't mess with a recipe the first time I make it but a pasta dish without vegetables is like cheesecake without the cream cheese. It's just not the same without it :) Plus, I like vegetables and I wanted some in my meal. From left to right we have 4 colours of bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onion. And for extra flavor we have salt & pepper, chives, and parsley.

By the way, if you don't want to grow or buy fresh herbs, these refrigerated bottles of freeze dried herbs are the next best thing. They taste better than dried herbs but have all the convenience of dried herbs. The foodiestudent recommends :)

I normally grate a bunch of cheese at once using the grater attachment on my KitchenAid mixer but today I decided to kick it old school. Plus I bought this grater about 6 months ago and was starting to feel bad that I hadn't used it yet. And yeah, that black strip on the right is the rind from the parmesean. I just couldn't throw it away for the picture I guess LOL.

I diced some peppers which isn't that exciting but I love the bright colours so I had to take a picture. Enjoy :)

This is just the parmesean cheese all grated up in a little bowl. Why did I take a picture of it? Just to show you that I take my own advice sometimes. A couple of posts ago I was kicking myself that I took a picture of diced strawberries in a red bowl. There was no contrast. Here there is contrast. I am happy with this picture :)

I sprinkled some parmesean on the plate, just like pioneer woman told me to. And before you mention my pale plate, pale cheese combination, please note that these are the only plates I have.

Then, because I'm an obedient girl, I poured the melted butter and cream (uh, milk in this case) combination on the plate.

Next came the fettuccine, uh spaghetti. Oooooo, steamy!

And topped with the rest of the parmesean.

I tossed it all together and then...

Topped with the diced peppers, onion, and tomatoes.

Tossed that around (I did lots of tossing) and then....

Topped everything with the parsley and chives.

And the result?.........

Sorry pioneer woman, but this was not as good as I hoped. In PW's defence, my version doesn't even look as good as hers. My theory on why mine wasn't as successful as hers is:

1. I used milk instead of cream. You can tell my sauce isn't nearly as thick as hers.
2. My pasta to sauce ratio is way off. I have way too much pasta for the sauce that I made.
3. The addition of vegetables added complexities not addressed in the original recipe.
   - They were cold which brought the temperature of the entire dish too low to fully melt the parmesean cheese.
   - They also required more salt than the recipe originally called for.
   - And if I didn't have enough sauce for the pasta before the addition of veggies, it was even more lacking after the veggies were added.

At the end of the day, I'm not convinced this recipe is worth trying again. It's too risky a prospect to put the sauce together on the pasta. There is no room for error.

I'd rather make a complete sauce in a saucepan and pour it on the pasta afterwards. Making it that way allows me to perfect the recipe as a separate entity from the rest of the meal. It also allows me to adjust the pasta to sauce ratio based on my preferences of the day.

Non-stick Spray vs Butter & Flour

The Experiment: Does using non-stick spray instead of buttering & flouring a cake pan make a difference in the ability to remove the cake from the pan?

Inspiration: I follow Pioneer Woman's blog and her instructions in baking often include buttering and flouring pans but I'm a habitual non-stick spray user and never flour the pans. I wondered if I was getting worse results because of taking a shortcut.

Expected Results: I expected the process of buttering & flouring to be more time consuming than using the non-stick spray but I expected the results to be about the same.

Actual Results:

Butter Flavoured Pam is my non-stick spray of choice. Lucerne regular salted butter and Robin Hood all-purpose flour are my butter and flour choices.

On the left is the Pam'd pan. And on the right is the buttered and floured pan. I melted the butter and used a brush to spread it around the pan. Then I put a tablespoon of flour in the pan and shook it around to cover the interior. I had to do that a few times to fully cover the buttered surface.

I poured the cake batter into the pans. This is my "Canada Day Cake" recipe. Just looking at these pictures is making me drool :)

Time to bake the cakes....

Here you can see that there is a small difference to be seen in the pans. The one on the left is noticeably browner around the edges. It's almost as if the Pam fried the edges of the cake a little.

Here's a side view. You can see the browner edges. But here's the really shocking part, the shape is different.

The floured pan on the right rose more in the middle but the edges didn't rise much, resulting in a domed cake.

The Pam'd cake on the left seemed to rise evenly all around. There is some rising in the center but the edges rose too giving an interesting wavy but fairly even surface.

Time to take the cakes out of their pans. They both slid out easily with no sticking to the pan. The one on the left has no residue but the one on the right has a floury residue on it.

So which method is best? For convenience and clean results I'll be sticking with my non-stick spray. The floury residue is unappealing and is the real deterrent to using the butter and flour method. The convenience of using non-stick spray is just a bonus :)