Indoor Gardening - Week Two

During the first few weeks the AeroGarden needs very little care. It requires very little watering, if any. The first feeding is at the end of the second week.

A few of my herbs are starting to show signs of life. The basil was the first to peek out of the pod. The sage is showing signs of life. Nothing happening in the mint, chives or parsley pods.

If I remember right the herbs really start to grow in week three. There's so little change from last week, I didn't take a photo.

Just Like White Castle...Only Better!

We have a wonderful bakery in town, Rotella's. They have the best bread, buns and rolls and even better, they have a bread store. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, I noticed slider buns in the freezer section. How perfect! I've been going to make sliders but hadn't found the right size bun.



Sliders

2 pounds hamburger (not too lean or the sliders will be dry)
1/2 cup dried onion flakes
Salt & Pepper
Shredded Cheddar or Monterrey Jack Cheese
Slider Buns

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle the onion flakes in a 9 x 13 pan. Gently press the onion on top of the ground beef forming one large patty. Season with salt and pepper. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, drain and pat with paper towels to absorb the grease. Bake for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Cut into bun size squares and serve with your favorite burger toppings.

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes - MSC

A quick note before we get to MSC, I am starting a new group around Francois Payard's book, Chocolate Ephipany. Looking for a few more members. We''ll create once a month and I want to keep the group small. Also, I am having a cookbook giveaway!! http://chocolatewithfrancois.blogspot.com/

When I think of Fall desserts, I think pumpkin. Pumpkin is one of those ingredients where I tend to make my favorite recipes, rather than try new ones. I created this blog to encourage me to try new recipes. This month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club did just that. These cupcakes are delicious and a great addition to your Fall recipe collection.

I did not make any changes to the recipe. I used cream cheese frosting, yummy! The cookbook showed these topped with marzipan pumpkins. I've never made marzipan and although I would like to try it, not this particular day. I thought the candy corn made a nice addition.



This month's recipe was chosen by Kim from What the Wisk. Thanks Kim for choosing a good one!! You can find all of the other MSC bakers here! Be sure to check out their creativity with this recipe.

Culinary Boot Camp Week 2

Culinary Boot Camp Week 2 was non stop. There were 8 of us and we cooked in teams of 2. We made 3 main dishes and 3 soups. Our soups were made with the stocks we made last week. My partner and I made Potato Soup flavored with tarragon. The other soups were Shrimp Bisque and Cream of Mushroom. Our main dish was Chicken stuffed with Prosciutto and Mozarella. The other main dishes were Pork Schnitzel with Savory Tomato Sauce and Rainbow Beef. The techniques we worked on were breading, pan frying, sauces and soups.

My favorites were the mushroom soup and the chicken. The flavors in the mushroom soup were robust and earthy. The herb pan sauce for the chicken added wonderful aromatic flavors to an already delicious dish.

I had hoped to have a picture to show the dishes we made in class this week. I know I took the pictures but tonight when I went to download them...no pictures. Next week I will have pictures for sure!

Indoor Gardening - Week One

Last year for my birthday, Tim bought me an AeroGarden. I'd been wanting one for a while but held off because they are a little spendy. After several growing seasons with this garden, the expense is so worth it!!! You can have fresh lettuce, tomatoes or herbs all year long.




I planted my newest garden on October 8th. I am going to blog through the growing season of this garden. Here's what I planted and their germination time:

Lemon Basil - 4 to 7 days
Curly Parsley - 15 to 21 days
Genovese Basil - 3 to 7 days
Mint - 6 to 10 daysS
Sage - 7 to 10 days
Chives - 5 to 10 days

I've grown the chives, mint and genovese basil before. My chives have never done very well. The basil grows beautifully and the mint grew fairly well. I am anxious to see how these herbs grow. I hope you'll follow along with me!

Sticky Buns With Toasted Almonds - SMS

To bake or not to bake? That was my question for this weeks Sweet Melissa Sunday. I've never been very successful with yeast breads or kneaded doughs. However, the reason I starting blogging and joined Sweet Melissa Sundays was to try recipes that are a challenge for me. So I decided to bake and I am so glad I did. These sticky buns are so delicious.

I made a couple of changes. I used lemon zest instead of orange zest and honey instead of maple syrup. My dough came together nicely. I realized as I was rolling the dough, most of the doughs I made in the past were kneaded by hand before I owned a Kitchen Aid. With the assistance of the Kitchen Aid, I feel much more confident about my dough making skills.

I had a little trouble telling if these were done. I took them out after about 30 minutes. They did seem a little doughy on the bottom but were golden brown on the top. Maybe the honey was more liquid than the maple syrup would have been?

Thanks to Jen of Not Microwave Safe for choosing this wonderful recipe. You can find all of the creative and talented Sweet Melissa Sunday's bakers here.

Asian Sweet Potato Soup

I love to shop at Whole Foods. Unfortunately Whole Foods isn't in my neighborhood. I go there a few times a year, mainly when I am looking for a special ingredient that my local store doesn't carry. Today Whole Foods was having an in store soup contest. The Asian Sweet Potato was our favorite. Since we had our first snowfall of the season today, this soup was perfect.



Asian Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from Whole Foods

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt and Pepper to taste
Toasted bread croutons*

Saute onions in olive oil until transluscent, add sweet potato, garlic and ginger. Toss with onions and oil briefly, then add stock. Simmer until sweet potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with toasted bread croutons.

*Whole Foods used a pumpkin pecan bread for the croutons.