Say Hello to our new look!

// Welcome to our new look // Our much anticipated new design is finally up! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! I want to give a special thanks to Rion Dooley deardooley for creating this extremely usable site. Thank you Daniel Good Pop for helping create the name and font of the logo, and Zach Cut To Create for making all of the awesome videos and being the official taste tester!

{ Happy Thanksgiving! }

Today happens to be one of the most glutenous days to be thankful for, Thanksgiving. I’m sure everyone has lovely dreams of gorging themselves with traditional foods like sweet potato casserole, turkey, green beans, and pecan pie. I really enjoy this holiday surrounded by family and friends but hate feeling sleepy and immobile. Unfortunately (maybe not), I have 2 turkey meals today. Those of you who are as lucky as me, I hope you have a good plan of action. As for me, I plan on the first meal being a taste of everything while the second is a plate full!

I’ve cooked a whole slew of things from pies to green beans. My favorite is of course the desserts. My partner in crime from Cut To Create and I made yet another video ** Pie Pops ** Enjoy!

The Foodie Chef Makes Pie Pops | Cut To Create from Cut to Create on Vimeo.

Cookie Monster Birthday Cupcakes!

The inspiration of these adorable cupcakes came from nothing but several google images. My sister called me one day trying to plan her precious child’s birthday. She wanted sesame street themed cupcakes so we quickly agreed on cookie monster! I did use a few tricks that helped with both the timing and look of them. Read on for pointers to help make these delicious coooookie monster cupcakes in your own kitchen 🙂

I started with (so embarrassed to say)a box of yellow cake mix, eek! The purist in me completely frowns upon this but it really does cut the time in half! It tastes just as good too. After baking, I used a pairing knife to cut a “v” shape to hold the cookie.

Then, I used a wilton #233 piping tip to pipe the delicious blue colored cream cheese icing.

For the eyes, I used white chocolate disks. Then, I colored a bit of the icing black and piped on the eyes. My sister made the adorable visors for party favors, such a great idea!

The birthday girl 🙂

Don’t you just want to dig into one?

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Moroccan Cooking with Grandma Lalouf

I had such a pleasure learning the Moroccan way of rustic cooking with my best friend Lindsey and her grandmother. After a year of asking Lindsey to invite me over to her grandmothers, I was finally granted my wish! I was invited over to her grandparents lovely home for a very filling lunch with the family and then a cooking lesson.
It was really interesting to hear stories of life in Algeria and Morocco when times were rough. The style of cooking directly mirrored this. The way grandma cut the eggplant without a cutting board was very minimalistic and interesting to me. All of the dishes had bold strong flavors from garlic to turmeric. They were all delicious and unique in their own way. She taught me how to make the eggplant dip which is very similar to babaganoush. The recipe is to follow…

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time and hope to get an invitation back for yet another lesson 🙂

Grandma Lalouf's Eggplant Dip Recipe

Servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
2 eggplants peeled and chopped
2 lbs tomatoes blanched & skin removed
½ teaspoon chili oil (homemade mixture of chili flakes and oil)
8 garlic cloves minced
pinch of salt

Servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
2 eggplants peeled and chopped
2 lbs tomatoes blanched & skin removed
½ teaspoon chili oil (homemade mixture of chili flakes and oil)
8 garlic cloves minced
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cook eggplant in oil for 10 minutes then remove. Cook tomato for about 10 minutes. Add eggplant, garlic, chili oil and salt to cooked tomato. Simmer for 1 hour uncovered.
This dip not only can be served with pita chips, vegetable cridite, but even spread on bread for a different sandwich!
Cooking option 2: leave out the tomato and add lemon juice (to taste) and cumin (1 tsp)
Enjoy!

Good Ole San Francisco

My boyfriend and I went on a little trip this past weekend to San Francisco. While there, he made this super cute video of our adventures. Foodie pics to come and an awesome tasting menu at Keiko a Nob Hill.

The following is the tasting menu at Keiko a Nob Hill. It was so incredibly delicious that I had to unbutton my pants, eek! The cannelle was the best I have ever had. Keiko nailed it!

NYC Food 2012

Salivate. Enjoy 🙂

Pork and Prawn Dumplings

I felt inspired to make these delicious purses of yummyiness from eating dim sum. I’ve had the greatest opportunity to share a few dim sum meals with my Chinese friend Kevin and his family. It’s honestly the best way to try dim sum. They order, you eat. After making these lumps of love, it has made me have much respect for dim sum makers. You need lots of patience to give some love to each dumpling. They were oh so good; especially dipped in a mixture of sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.

Pork and Prawn Dumplings

adapted from Ching-He Huang

Servings

Ingredients

Pork and Prawn Filling

8 ounces ground pork
4 ounces raw Tiger prawns (shrimp) shelled, deveined, and coarsely diced
1 large spring onion (green) finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
pinch seasalt
pinch freshly cracked black pepper

Dumplings

10 wonton wrappers
eggwash optional
Groundnut oil (peanut) for greasing
1 tablespoon fiery chile sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Servings

Ingredients

Pork and Prawn Filling

8 ounces ground pork
4 ounces raw Tiger prawns (shrimp) shelled, deveined, and coarsely diced
1 large spring onion (green) finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
pinch seasalt
pinch freshly cracked black pepper

Dumplings

10 wonton wrappers
eggwash optional
Groundnut oil (peanut) for greasing
1 tablespoon fiery chile sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Instructions

Mix the pork, prawns, onion, ginger, soy sauce rice wine, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Stir to combine the ingredients.
Take 1 wonton wrapper and place 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center. Brush the wonton wrapper with egg wash to prevent wrappers from opening up and separating from the filling once cooked. Then, gather up the sides of the wrapper and mold it around the filling into a ball-like shape, leaving the center exposed. You can top each dumpling with a Goji berry for some added color and flavor. *Note* Cover unused wonton wrappers with a damp towel to keep them moist.
Oil the bottom of a bamboo steamer and line it with parchment paper. Arrange the dumplings in the steamer, cover with a lid and place it over a pan of boiling water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the steamer. Steam the dumplings for 6 to 8 minutes, or until cooked.
Meanwhile, combine the chile, and soy sauce into a bowl. Serve alongside the dumplings.
You can switch up the meat if you don't enjoy either pork or prawn. Beef would be a great substitute!

Banana Cream Pie

The foodie chef is back! I’m sorry for taking so long to post but I’ve been sinking into my newish job and learning photoshop! Thanks to my two great friends Amy and Kevin! They’ve really taught me some great stuff, I hope everyone enjoys the new style. Oh and of course a big huge thank you to the boyfriend for taking all of the great pics!

I made these pies during the holidays because they’re a comfort food. I hope they were loved by all!

Layer some freshly whipped cream with a touch of vanilla bean paste on the bottom of the pie shell. Then place some bananas on top. Next, add another layer of whipped cream and the pastry cream! I folded half of the pastry cream with some whipped cream to lighten it up.

Add some nilla wafers

Top off with some more whipped cream and.. tah dah!

Banana Cream Pie

Servings

Ingredients

Pastry Cream

½ gallon Milk
1 lb sugar
3 ½ ounce cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces butter
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Whipped Cream

1 qt whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Servings

Ingredients

Pastry Cream

½ gallon Milk
1 lb sugar
3 ½ ounce cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces butter
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Whipped Cream

1 qt whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

Pastry Cream

Boil milk with vanilla bean (or paste). In a separate bowl, mix sugar and cornstarch to avoid lumps.
Add eggs and salt to sugar mixture until combined. Once the milk has come to a boil, temper the milk into the egg sugar mixture.
Then return all liquid to heat and whisk continuously, be sure not to scorch the bottom!
The mixture will start to thicken. When the first bubble hits the top, strain the mixture into a container.
Let cool slightly then add the cold butter and thoroughly mix.
Put in fridge until it gets cold. This recipe can be made a day ahead.

Assembly

A little whipped cream on the bottom
Bananas
pastry cream mixture
Nilla wafers
Whipped cream
Crumbled nilla wafers

Norah’s Rainbow Birthday Bash!

The Spread

My creative sister and her husband threw their baby, Norah, a rainbow themed 1st birthday. She went all out with the decorations, you’ll see below.. My contributions were the cake and some odds and ends. I must say it was colorful and delicious! Since Norah is the first baby in the family, her party was extra special, It was the cutest birthday ever!


The precious birthday girl!

Rainbow cupcakes with fluffy cream cheese frosting!

mmm…colorful!

The sprinkles around the rim was the best part

adorable.

father and daughter 🙂

My sister, neice, and her friends

The cake.

She has an interest..

She approves!

I wonder what next years theme will be…

Mom’s 60th Birthday

My loving mother was turning 60 so my siblings and I planned a Dessert and Wine party and her boyfriend threw her a surprise dinner. The weekend was filled with many birthday festivities which made her glow (as seen below).

My boss allowed me to make the pastries at work the day of so things worked out perfectly! My sister did the decorating including the old-time photo’s of my mother when she was younger. They ranged from her teens to motherhood. The goal was happiness and I’m pretty sure we were successful 🙂

Surprised and happy 🙂

Dessert at Prego

Banana cream pie, Macarons filled with carmelia ganache, and chocolate pots de creme

Mom with Jared and Amanda, I was just a twinkle in her eye!

Lemon meringue tart, banana cream pie, chocolate pot de creme, frangipane blueberry tart

The birthday was enjoyed by all, you can never go wrong with desserts, wine, and great company.

Two Nights away from closing..

Last night some friends and I went to Bootsies Hertiage Cafe to sample their 9-course menu before closing their doors in Tomball. This was my very first 9 course menu tasting so I didn’t have huge expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the most interesting combinations, flavors, and textures. That night was a first for many things including pig’s heart. Not only was the food different but they were playing dubstep in the background which totally added to the hip atmosphere. My friend Albert and I awkwardly took pictures throughout the dinner, the proof is below.