Come What May: HH6 Cooking

Showing posts with label HH6 Cooking. Show all posts

Saturday, August 27, 2011

HH6 - June, July, and August Challenge

I am still part of the HH6 Cooking Club. However, I just haven't participated since May. Thanks to the fabulous morning sickness I haven't found myself in the kitchen to actually cook real meals. There have been some amazing challenges each month and even more amazing results from fellow HH6 Members. Below is August's challenge. Hope you click on the HH6 Button and see what fellow members have created.

HouseHold6 Cooking Club's August

theme which is:

"With the mercury continuing to rise this month, let's once again give ourselves a break from the stove. Create an original 5 ingredient slow cooker recipe. Salt and/or pepper do not count as one of the 5 ingredients."

http://www.sarapliciouskitchen.com/p/hh6-cooking-club_14.html
(my button is not working at this time)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

HH6 - May Challenge

May's Challenge

Create a pizza without using Red Sauce

I didn't participate in this month's food challenge due to the deployment. Honestly I haven't really been in the kitchen since it has started. It is really hard to cook for one person (me) who is working on portion control and a 2.5 year old who isn't a meat eater.

However, my fellow HH6 Bloggers have created some amazing pizza's!!! Several pizzas I look forward to testing out myself once Mr. May returns home. Pizza is one our of our favorite meals. Maybe then I will create a pizza of our own. I'm thinking a Buffalo Chicken style pizza or one with lots of fresh garlic and basil. Especially since I'm not a fan of red sauce on my pizza anyway.

Click on our new button below to check out the rest of the Bloggers for HH6. If you have a favorite recipe for pizza, don't hesitate to comment and share!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

HH6 - April Challenge

April's Challenge -

Create a meal or a dish from a country you have been stationed in, lived in, visited, or would like to visit (America excluded). It can be a main dish, side dish, dessert, drink, or all of the above. Tell us the story of why you chose it and if it has any special meaning to you or your family.

Some of my all time favorite childhood memories are the trips we made as a family to the Black Forest while stationed at Ramstein, Germany. We always stayed at our favorite Gastehaus where rolls, cheese, butter, and slices of meat were served as breakfast items (which to this day I blame for my hips and love of all butter, cheese, and bread - HAHA). The scenery is truly breathe taking during all seasons but my favorite was always winter. Where I could look out the window and dream of walking through the Forest while the snow was falling at night.

As I get older the memories are fading but I hold onto the hope of going back one day to visit. Till then, occasionally I try my hand at German dishes and treats. Like the treat I am about to share with you.....Black Forest Cake.

I didn't have a a recipe of my own for Black Forest Cake. So I went to the Internet and researched many recipes. I quickly learned about "Traditional" Black Forest Cake and "Americanized" (so to speak) version. I decided to make more of a "Americanized" Black Forest Cake because the traditional made me nervous.

Black Forest Cake -
*my notes

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup kirschwasser *searched all over town and no one sold this. I used the juice from the jar of cherries
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon strong brewed coffee *I don't drink coffee, therefor none was made and used
2 (14 ounce) cans pitted Bing cherries, drained *Can't tell you what Bing cherries are. I used the jar cherries that were pitted and believe they were Wal-Mart brand. Cherry Pie filling could work but I wouldn't use.

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon kirschwasser *I used cherry juice from jar
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet
**Make sure to taste your whip cream for sweetness. I added sugar until it was to the sweetness of my liking.

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round pans *I used 2 round 9 inch pans since I couldn't find my 8 inch pans with parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Dry ingredients shifted...I need to buy a nicer one

so the ingredients don't clog up

2 - Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until combined. Pour into 2 round 8 inch pans.

My mixer starting the creaming process

3 - Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove paper from the cakes. Cut each layer in half, horizontally, making 4 layers total *cut carefully and evenly or you will have uneven layers like mine....honestly if going 9 inch I would skip cutting cakes in half. Sprinkle layers with the 1/2 cup kirshwasser.

1st ever from complete scratch cake...very delish!

Cooked 35 and 30 probably would have been perfect.

4 - In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar, pinch of salt, and coffee; beat until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a couple teaspoons of cherry juice or milk. Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Bottom layers

This is where I was distracted singing with my iPad

and cut the other cake way horribly. Nothing a little

bit of frosting can't fix......

5 - In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon kirshwasser. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with chocolate curls made by using a potato peeler on semisweet baking chocolate.

Finished cake

Now I wish I could tell you how fabulous or horrible this cake is. I didn't want to cut into the cake since it was going to work with Mr. May (Mr. May's unit are sometimes my taste testers). However, I can tell you Mr. May brought home a empty cake tray. As well as several requests for me to make the unit more cakes. So from my fabulous taste testers......HUGE Success!!

Enjoy and don't forget to check out the other HH6 Bloggers

(listed on the first HH6 Posting)

Monday, April 11, 2011

HH6 - New Bloggers

Our cooking club has added two new Bloggers. Welcome and can't wait to see what they create for April's Challenge!!!

Which April's challenge is - Create a meal or a dish from a country you have been stationed in, lived in, visited, or would like to visit (America excluded). It can be a main dish, side dish, dessert, drink, or all of the above. Tell us the story of why you chose it and if it has any special meaning to you or your family.

New Bloggers -
Courage Is Not An Image

Bitchin' In My Kitchen

Monday, March 28, 2011

HH6 - March Challenge

I finally get to post my first HH6 Cooking challenge! This month we were to create a dish (main, side, dessert, whatever of our chosing) for an MRE. Thank goodness we did not have to worry about how to dry, freeze, vacuum seal, etc for this challenge. We just had to create an MRE that we would want to eat. However, before I share my MRE recipe, allow me to give you a quick back ground on what exactly is an MRE for non military people.

MRE -
Meal, ready to eat......aka.....tastes like brunt cardboard to the average person. When you are out in the field and need an MRE to survive, it is a Medium Rare, Grilled to Perfection, 12oz Poterhouse Steak. Okay more like burnt leather but hey the power of imagination is truly powerful!

Shoot....to be fair, Mr. May did tell me some of the MREs are tasteful and some are worth their weight in gold when it comes to "trading" whats in the MRE packages. Anywho for the true meaning of MRE click HERE.

I have never tried an MRE. I have seen them growing up as a Air Force Brat. Now as an Air Force Wife I even have one or two in the closet from some training Mr. May had. When the challenge came in I immediately sent an email to my cousin (proudly serving in the USAF), my dad (proudly retired from the USAF after 28 years of service), and my fabulous husband (proudly serving in the USAF). Responses were great, comical, and many recipe ideas were flying!

Things such as, homemade french fries, milk shake, pizza, steak, with most popular, anything of "Mom's Cooking". I finally decided on a dish for Mr. May and went to make it one Saturday afternoon, till I made his favorite breakfast dish. When I turned to see his eyes closed, slight moan of goodness, and him telling me "man this is just heaven", a bell went off in my head. This would be the MRE. Especially if it could bring a slice of Heaven while our men and women are fighting for our Country's Freedom miles upon miles away from home!

March's Challenge - MRE
Cream Cheese Croissant Breakfast Casserole (recipe from my fabulous MIL)

#1 Ingredients -
-1 cup of sugar
-1 egg
-16 oz of cream cheese (softened)
-1 t. vanilla

#2 Ingredients -
-1/2 c. sugar (equal or less which is a little bit less for me)
-1 t. cinnamon (more or less depending on your love for cinnamon)
-1 stick of butter; melted (equal or less which is always less for me)

#3 Ingredients -
-2 pkg of crescent rolls

How to assembly and cook -
1 - #1 mix all of these ingredients with a mixer until smooth
2 - #1 melt butter and mix in the cinnamon and sugar
3 - Grease a 9x13 baking dish
   - #3 Press one pkg of rolls into bottom of lightly greased pan
   - Pour #1 (cream cheese mixture) over the bottom layer of rolls in the pan, spread evenly
   - With second pkg of rolls, roll those out onto a clean service. When rolled out, lay on top of cream
      cream cheese mixture in the pan.
   - Pour #2 mixture (cinnamon and sugar) over final layer of rolls and spread evenly
4 - Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes