Creme Brulee

That’s right, I made creme brulee. Jealous? I used this recipe, but my crockpot wasn’t big enough to hold all 4 ramekins, plus there was extra custard, so I made 3 in the crockpot and two in the oven (the traditional way).

No wonder creme brulee is such a special treat. You have to cook it, cool it for hours up to overnight, then carmelize the sugar, then cool again. It was stretched over two days for me, but so worth it. I actually curdled the ones I made in the crockpot, because I started watching a movie and forgot. But the ones made in the oven came out perfect.

Cinnamon-Nut Buns

Well, I got this recipe from one of my old issues of Everyday Food. My goodness, it took  4+ hours to make these. That is the longest amount of time I have ever invested for a treat. No wonder people detest baking! You have to make the dough from scratch, let it rise 1.5 hours. Then roll it out, fill it with the good stuff, and let it rise another 1.5 hours. Then you have to cook them for 30 minutes and let them cool for 15. Lets just say I skipped the cooling stage. Man, were they worth it! At first, I thought these wouldn’t be as good without the traditional white icing, but they are even better with the glaze, because it tastes like toffee.

On the upside, I quartered the dough. So, I made 6 cinnamon rolls last night. I have six waiting in the freezer next time I want them (I still have to let them rise for 2 hours) and a dozen dinner rolls that we can make, as needed. Not bad, not bad. I guess that’s why bakers rise so early in the morning…

Weekend treats

Every now and then, when we are feeling extra special (or we have run out of dog food) I will cook Liam dinner. My Rachael Ray magazines all have a dog food recipe, so I just try to whip him up an easier, less complicated version. Sometimes, it’s just chicken and rice.

This past Friday, we fell into the latter category (no dog food and neither one of us wanted to stop at the store on our way home). So, I whipped up a pasta recipe for Liam that he was licking the bowl long after the food was gone. I tasted it, and I thought it was pretty good, myself. So, here is my modified Rachael Ray recipe:

• small pasta like macaroni or shells
• beef broth
• garlic
• shredded carrots
• some meat (you can either boil chicken…in this case, I put in some old lunch meat we weren’t going to eat…I know, the sodium…but it was like 2 slices)

Boil the pasta & chicken in the beef broth with carrots and minced garlic until the chicken is cooked through and the pasta is tender. Strain the pasta (+ add ins) and place in a separate bowl to cool. Add a small amount of the cooking broth. Let dog enjoy once cooled!

Le Pot Pie

Joe and I went to the new La Madeleine on Brodie Lane. I had the “Le Pot Pie” which was really tasty. I really like it because I hate pie crust, but this has a pastry topping instead of pie crust. So, I was inspired to make homemade pot pie for dinner using an Alton Brown recipe. This recipe uses puff pastry for the pot pie topping. Overall, I think it was very good and Joe said that he enjoyed it. Next time I won’t squish the puff pastry onto the filling, because the underside was not as fluffy and hard to cut through.