.the abcs of what i eat.

Howdy folks. Super awesome good news, the man is home! Woot. With that in mind, there will probably be much more on my cooking list next week! For now I wanted to share something with y'all that has been making the rounds of the blogosphere. I've seen these "food ABCs" a couple different ways and just kind of picked one at random.

So here we go!

A is for Avocado: How do you like yours prepared?

Anyway I can get it! I love avocado. From a simple guacamole to slices in a sushi roll I really will eat avocado in anything.

B is for Bread: Regardless of nutrition, what is your favorite type?

Again, pretty much any way I can get it. I have a feeling this will be a reoccurring answer for me. I am a carbaholic. I love bread, tortillas, bread sticks, toast, all of it. Probably one of the most delicious loaves of bread I ever ate though was the white chocolate cherry loaf at Great Harvest Bread Co. in Anchorage. That thing was like heaven in my mouth!

C is for Chocolate: What is your favorite kind currently?

In terms of chocolate, the darker the better! I keep a bag of mini dark chocolate chips in the freezer for those days when I just want to grab a couple. These are, of course, also great for baking!  

D is for Doughnuts: You might not currently eat them, but what kind do you fancy?

Krispy Kreme regular glazed, all the way. I have, sadly, been very disappointed recently with many of the doughnuts in the Northern Georgia area so, I'm just going to hold out until I can get the perfect little pillow of air and fried sugar that is Krispy Kreme. Mmmm.

E is for Eggs: How would you like yours prepared?

I love, love, love scrambled eggs with all sorts of veggies added in. Put it all in a tortilla and it's even better.

F is for Falafel: Yay or nay?

Never had it so.... nay?

G is for Groceries: Where do you purchase yours?

Kroger's, Ingles, or (le gasp) Walmart.

H is for Hot beverages: What is your favorite hot drink?

Is there really any competition for hot chocolate? I don't think so. Give me some Abuelita's Hot Chocolate in the winter and life will be good.

I is for Ice Cream: Pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.

I just recently discovered Ben and Jerry's Red Velvet Cake ice cream and it is to die for. No extra toppings necessary!

J is for Jams or Jellies: Do you eat them? If so, what kind and flavor? 

I sure do! Strawberry jam, sugar free, in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

K is for Kashi: Name your favorite Kashi product. 

I don't eat any Kashi products.

L is for Lunch: What was yours today?

I mostly did a lot of snacking today leading up to dinner. Around lunch time I think I had a nutrigrain bar and some almonds.

M is for Microwave: What is your favorite microwave meal/snack? 

Popcorn! I don't really use the microwave for any other specific microwave food, just to heat up leftovers.

N is for Nutrients: Do you like carbs, fats, or proteins best? 

As stated above, carbs.

O is for Oil: What kind do you like to use?

I almost exclusively use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

P is for Protein: How do you get yours?

Meat, dairies, nuts, veggies. I'm an equal opportunity protein eater.

Q is for Quaker: How do you like your oats?

Is "in cookies" an acceptable answer to this? Cause if so, that. If not I like them hot and simple, with some milk and raisins.

R is for Roasting: What is your favorite thing to roast? 

Lately I have been roasting carrots quite often. The only downside is how hot the whole house gets! Yikes.

S is for Sandwich: What's your favorite kind? 

There is this sandwich at Magnolia Cafe in Austin called the Flamingo, swiss cheese, avocado and sprouts with mayo and mustard on rye. Most delicious sandwich ever.

T is for Travel: How do you handle eating while traveling?

I don't! I eat like crap when I travel. And usually have tons of snack type food. The man and I ate lots of goldfish, trail mix, granola bars, ramen noodles and spam sandwiches on our drive to GA from AK.

U is for Unique: What are some of the unique foods that you like?

I guess I should just say spam again, ha. I had never tried it before the move. The man likes to take it camping. It's very easy camping/travel food. We got spam "lite" if that makes a difference. Other than that I'll try anything once, but most of my go to meals involve fairly common foods.

V is for Vitamins: What kind do you take?

A prenatal, probiotics, and fish oil.

W is for Wiener Schnitzel: Do you ever recreate this traditional Czech food? 

Never have, and probably never will.

X is for X-RAY: If we x-rayed your belly right now, what food would we see? 

Sushi rolls!

Y is for Youth: What foods remind you of your childhood? 

Potato pancakes are up there. A nice cool Dr. Pepper takes me back as well.

Z is for Zucchini: How do you prepare it?

Sauteed with onions, roasted, or baked into bread!

There you have it. Lots of information you never wanted to know about me!

XO

.daring bakers challenge: june.

I am clearly getting my strawberry fix this season!

Erica of Erica's Edibles was our host for the Daring Bakers' June Challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly daring by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

I was thrilled to read what this challenge was! Baklava has been on my "to make" list forever. Seriously, over a year now. And I just kept putting it off. I can't say I would have been adventurous enough to make my own phyllo dough though!



My notes about the challenge are pretty straight forward. The baklava turned our wonderful, but probably not all that traditional. I didn't use all the appropriate spices but it still tastes dang good. Also, homemade phyllo dough is ridiculously easy to make, but not so easy to roll! I think part of this, however, was thanks to my uber crappy rolling pin. I hate that thing. An ex-boyfriend's grandma gave it to me. I should have known then that she was just trying to pawn it off on someone! Ha.

To make the phyllo dough you simply combine 1 1/3 cups flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 water (plus more if needed), 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus a little bit more to coat the dough later), and 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar. Mix all of these together until combined, adding a small bit of extra water if the dough is too dry, then use a dough hook to knead for 10 minutes, or knead by hand for 20 minutes, until a smooth ball of dough is formed. Coat the dough with a small amount of oil and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for about 2 hours. If I could go back, I honestly would probably have doubled this recipe for my dish.

That awesome new food processor I told you about? It was instrumental in taking this lovely lot of ingredients:

To this lovely lot of ready to go baklava filling!

Erica suggested using an adapted Baklava recipe from Alton Brown. Since Mr. Brown is one of my favs I took her advice and followed his recipe on foodnetwork.com. Like I said though, I did not use all the traditional spices, as I didn't want to buy allspice when I really have no other use for it and it would just sit in my cupboard. I also didn't use any rose water. Alton would be so ashamed...

Out of the oven, ready for syrup!

After everything is prepared and the dough has sat long enough you want to roll out the sheets. In order to do this tear off small, golf ball size pieces, and roll them out on a well floured surface. According to Erica you can't over flour! You want each sheet to be as thin as possible, but it will probably not be as thin as store bought phyllo dough. You want at least 20 sheets (which I didn't get, hence needing to make a double batch). Stack the sheets together after rolling them, with flour in between each sheet.

Just got a syrup bath.

Get the rest of your ingredients together and start the layering! I continued to follow Alton's recipe for this. A couple layers of dough, with melted butter brushed between them, a layer of the nut mixture, more dough layers, and so on and so on. Then the baklava goes into the oven. While it's cooking start the syrup (also found on Alton's recipe).

After resting overnight. Mmmmm.

The hardest part was letting this rest overnight so the syrup could soak in. The next day though I had my first piece and it was awesome. This is a great dessert for a large group of people. It's so sweet that a very small piece satisfies any sweet tooth! As it is, I have more than 3/4 of it left still! I clearly need more friends to come over and eat my cooking.

XO

.introducing.

I am thrilled to announce that there is a new gadget in the Baking and Wine kitchen. And I think he will fit right in. 

Look at that chrome. 

Those blades. 

Yup, he's a big ol' hunk of machine and I have been eyeing him for quite some time. I'm just not going to tell the KitchenAid. He might get jealous. 

XO

.good morning to you.

In an effort to kind of get out here more and blog on a more consistent basis I thought I would just do a little "hello and good morning," kind of post.

A lot of the time when I don't blog anything it's mostly because I haven't really cooked much, I haven't cooked something blog worthy, or I haven't cooked something new. This has especially been the case with the man being gone. I am, however, also trying to make an effort in terms of that as well.

Regardless, I thought I would share what a common breakfast has been for the past week or so. I have been devouring the granola I made in the beginning of the month, and actually only have one small bowl's worth left before I need to make another batch. All this week I have been adding a few fat, ripe strawberries to the bowl. Yesterday I also added a delicious bagel thin with a wedge of laughing cow swiss cheese. I also usually add some milk to the granola and strawberries.

The baby seems to appreciate starting the day this way and, what the baby wants, she gets! At least for now. This breakfast has also been great because it really keeps me full until lunch.

XO