Beef Ragu and Garlic Bread

Yes, I know this isn't a BAKED GOOD, but the bread was BAKED in the OVEN. So we're counting this as a CakeShot post. Plus too, the pasta came out pretty well. =]

So, last night, as we were finalizing the logistics for driving up to Stanford University, the job of providing lunch fell onto me. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

"What do you guys want?"
"Oh DON'T EAT PASTA BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU SLEEPY!"
"I want PASTA!"
"Ok, I'll cook pasta."

Somehow I always end up in the strange position of cooking for people on a whim. The last time it happened, I ended up hosting three parties, three days in a row. The food was great, but the credit card balance tickled my Mom in not so pleasant of a way. But anyways. So I decided to use my usual marinara sauce recipe but spiced up a little bit with some meat (for the boys...) I thought that since I might be busy the day of, prepping the ingredients ahead of time would be smart. Like usual, that ended up being at around 2:00 AM...

The pasta itself came together really nicely, and the garlic bread also came out well, despite improvising the entire recipe. I simmered the sauce for about two hours, resulting in a rich tomato sauce infused with the flavor of the meat and tender, golden vegetables. For the garlic bread I first roasted a whole head of garlic to use in the garlic spread. Instead of using a lot of butter, I used extra virgin olive oil and parsley in addition to the butter.

Next time I do this, I think I'm going to use chicken instead of meat. I like my pasta dishes to be on the lighter side, so I think the chicken taste will suit my palate better. We shall see. Man, I just realized. This is the last meal I'm ever going to cook in the apartment. ::TEAR:: Well, here's to all the memories of cooking in this place.


Recipe to follow when I feel like posting again...

More Fun w/ Oatmeal...

Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars
After going to bed at 5:00 AM (maybe a little after...) it sucks to wake up. Especially when you have to wake up to the sun searing through your eyelids. But, to make matters even better, I woke up with the urge to bake. Usually, this would be a joyful way for me to wake up, but having used the last egg last night...I mean...earlier in the day ::COUGH:: AT 2:00AM ::COUGH:: it was one of those, "OHHH CRAP" moments. Do I go buy another carton of eggs even though I'm leaving for Norcal tomorrow, or do I just NOT BAKE? What a dilemma!

So what did I do? I opened my "BAKING BLOGS" folder in Firefox and began to browse through the pretty pictures and recipes hoping that an EGGLESS recipe would surface. AND ALAS! ONE DID! W00T! And for more awesomeness, it was a recipe that involved Oatmeal and Blueberries, two things that I've been trying to get rid of. =] It was a recipe from BakingBites (heavenly awesome world of food. Major props!) But I didn't have brown sugar...what a shame. BUT THAT WASN'T GOING TO STOP ME! I used plain white sugar, sprinkled in some Cinnamon and the results weren't half bad. They lacked the great taste from the brown sugar, but I think the Cinnamon was a nice addition to help compensate.

The picture sucks but there's not much I can do about that. My friends don't own pretty plates and it's really a task to find a clean area big enough to take a dang picture of what I baked...::SIGH:: At least they have flour and sugar for me to use! (YAY!!!) It sucks they're moving out. This has been CakeShot's headquarters for the last couple of months...::TEAR:: Aww the memories...

~ CaKeTenDer Chan

Fun with Oatmeal

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
In preparation for my road trip to Norcal this Friday for the Intercollegiate Taiko Council's Annual Taiko Invitational at Stanford University, I baked some Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies at like 2:00AM a couple days ago. I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand and wasn't in the mood to attempt some Harry Potter hocus pocus on my empty wallet, so I just whacked the heck out of some Dove Chocolates that I got on sale a couple weeks back. Obviously the cookies aren't all the same size (it was 2:00AM...do you really think I'd try to be exact?) But I don't think any of us will care while we're munching on them. They taste good (and they do...according to MANY people...not just myself) and that's enough reason for me to suppress my OCD tendencies...



Chai Oatmeal Cookies
So. I was baking, yet again at 2:00AM, on a whim of course, and here's the resulting batch of cookies. They came out OKAY considering the fact that I didn't follow a recipe AT ALL...like usual. Why Chai Oatmeal cookies? Well, I'm one of those people who don't like to throw things away and when I moved out of my Dorm two weeks ago, I just couldn't bring myself to throw away this Chai Powder I got from Trader Joes. I figured I could use it in some form other than in a Chai drink (since I didn't like the taste of it in that) since I had two weeks and a free supply of sugar and flour at my friend's house (which I've invaded).
Basically, all I did was throw flour, sugar (white and brown), eggs, baking powder, chai powder, oatmeal, and some random other ingredients into a bowl, mixed it until it looked decent and baked. I thought I'd be all fancy by coating them with a chai-sugar powder and the results made my tongue very happy. =] It had just the right amount of sweet to perk me up enough to make this blog entry.
After taste testing (which translates to me eating about 3 cookies), I realized that I COULD BRING THESE TO INVITATIONAL AS WELL! Mwahaha. I think the question now is...how many cookies will be left over after the drive up...

~ CaKeTenDer Chan