Pâte Sucrée

 

There's a story behind this post. 

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Amanda. It was spring break, and she, about 13 at that time, was at Barnes and Noble, her favorite bookstore. Browsing in the cookbook section, something caught her eye. It was David Lebovitz's newest book, Ready for Dessert. She flipped through those new, glossy pages and ohh and ahhed over it. However, the ohh's and ahh's abruptedly came to an end when she saw the price tag. It was wayy out of her budget. So, reluctantly, she put the book back, and continued her hunt for a cookbook filled with delicious pictures and recipes. She soon gave up. It was getting late, and she still had to go a few other places. Suddenly, Michel Roux's Pastry caught her eye. She repeated the whole ohh and ahh episode, and this time, she even approved of the price. It was much cheaper than the first book, so she bought it.

Chedder and Jalapeno Biscuits

I made these a long time ago. It's just that I never got around to posting them.

Man, these are good. I ate five of them right after they came out of the oven. Made of butter, cheese, and milk, these biscuits are flaky, dreamy, and another word for heaven.

Much to my delight, a relative gave my family this Hickory Farms Sausage and Cheese gift set for Christmas. It contains samplings of various types of cheeses, sausages, and mustard. Since my family rarely eats sausage and cheese, I got total control of this gift. This whole week, I've been thinking about making these biscuits. So when I had some spare time on Friday after school, I jumped at the chance to make these biscuits.

Update! again...

I lied. Remember last time? I told you that I was going to be changing a few more things, but they weren't going to be major? Well, I changed my mind. Two seconds ago, I just launched my very own blogroll! Check it out by clicking here or by clicking on the What I Read button on the top bar.

~Amanda

How to make Self-Rising Flour

Self-rising flour is a waste of money. Why buy it when you can easily make it at home?

It's quite simple - all you need is 3 ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. For every cup of self rising flour needed, I add 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder and 4 pinches (1/2 teaspoon) of salt to one cup of regular flour. Of course, that results in some extra flour. However, the additional amount won't make a significant difference to your final product. If you really care about precision, take out the extra 1/2 Tbsp and 4 pinches of flour. Then, you  can have a perfect cup of self-rising flour. Since I'm a lazy baker, I usually go the first way.

Opening a Box of Tofu (disaster-free style)

 

This is the first post on the series of Tofu - the Food of March.

Tofu.

That's such a funny-sounding word.

To-fu. To-fu. To-fu.

In Chinese, it's pronounced: dou-fu.

And in English, it's pronounced like... tofu.

They don't really sound alike. I wonder how they came up with the translation in the first place.

However, tofu tastes the same in China. It's bland. It tastes like nothing. That can be good or bad.

Most Americans don't like it - they say, "It has no flavor." Well, the secret to robust tofu is to infuse it with flavor. Marinading it in a mixture of soy sauce, minced garlic, sesame oil, and a pinch of sugar will make it heavenly. It'll do you wonders. Throwing it into a pot of boiling water and letting it swim there for 5 minutes will do nothing for your taste buds.  Tofu picks up flavor when it is being cooked with other foods. If it's placed in a beef stir-fry, the tofu will have slight meaty flavor. If used as a garnish in miso soup, it'll have a hint of miso to it. It can be paired with anything!

Since it doesn't have a recognizable taste when it's not cooked, you can puree some raw tofu into a sauce, drink, or dip, and it'll go by unnoticed. Do you have a teenager at home who's going through the I'm-not-eating-anything-that's-not-vegan phase? Chances are that he/she isn't getting enough protein. Add some tofu into a fruit smoothie and he/she won't suspect a thing. It's a win-win situation. Your child gets the protein needed for growing. And, it's still vegan. See? Tofu can be used in anything. It's extremely versatile.

Kicking off the Food of the Month

Hey everybody!

I thought it'd be cool to have a Food of the Month series, where I would shine the spotlight on a specific food and feature recipes using that food. Of course, I'm not sure how long this will last, but my goal is to have this running for at least a year.

Well, for March, I have decided to give the stage to...

(drum roll please)

Tofu!

Yes, I agree with you all. Tofu is a boring food. It has no taste.

However, I'm going to show you all out there how to make it delicious and out of this world!

For now,
Amanda