3000 miles 'til dinner.

Original MIL Mission #33: Scottish Shortbread.

Well, it’s the holidays folks (cue Captain Obvious remarks here). And with the holidays comes holiday cookie baking time! So in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, I figured that it was no better time than now to tackle the Scottish Shortbread mission. I’m completely into the savory yet sweet trend that is all the rage these days so buttery shortbread, here I come!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

The ingredients - so basic and simple.

I loved all the shortbread options MIL gave. And because I also love citrusy baked goods, I opted to make lemony scottish shortbreads for this year’s holidays.

Wonder if the vitamin C benefit will stay through the baking process…. Naaaah, probably not, but I guess who cares?

And I’ll just come out with it now — it took me three batches before I got this recipe right (*sigh*). And where I’m pretty sure I failed was not pulsing my butter enough to get it soft and creamy. I was having some issues getting my butter to spin for 4 minutes in my Cuisinart. This was my not so soft and creamy butter. 

But that’s necessary in order to make the dough stay together. My workaround ended up being adding the sugar, vanilla and salt to the butter after a quick spin. And then letting that mixture have a go at it in the Cuisinart for a few minutes. That seemed to do the trick, and I was finally able to make cookie dough that could be rolled out.

So that others may learn from my mistake — here comes my visual lesson for the day.

Crumbly dough:

Good dough:

And here is the rolled out dough that did not become a crumbly mess. Because I was making smaller cookies for my holiday gift bundles, I used a small glass to cut out picture-perfect circle-lettes.

And into the oven they go!

I definitely recommend keeping closer to the 10 - 12 minute baking time (depending on your oven). Although the cookies will be very light and you may think they’re not done (like I did), they are much better than if you over-crisp them.

♥MIL MISSION #33: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Phew! I did it!…. eventually. I was able to squeak out some cookies from my crumbly batches — although they were more shortbread BISCUITS rather than shortbread cookies, they still tasted delicious. I really loved the buttery, savory sweetness of these cookies. And my good batches, which were gifted to my local friends and pseudo family, got rave reviews from all recipients. Just goes to show that practice, persistence and patience (yes, ALL that!) can eventually make perfect!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: 2.5 (I’m giving myself 1.5 points for having to learn about the butter fiasco, but once you got that down, this recipe is very easy)

Deliciousness: 4

Impressed Husband factor: 4

Leftover-friendly: 5

Original MIL Mission #43: Panzanella Salad.

I confess. I have never had (or heard of) panzanella salad before, but the ingredients in the dish sounded like something I’d just love, love, love. And as the wonders of the universe never cease to amaze me, panzanella salad happened to be on the menu at a restaurant I was eating in while on holiday in Mexico. Imagine the chances! (kidding). So I ordered it, and… loved it.

So now that I was back home, I wanted to make my own panzanella salad goodness.

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here are my ingredients.

Yes, I chopped up my old bread the night before to save some time. Since I knew the tomatoes were the star of this dish, I was nervous that we were out of the normal tomato season. Luckily, the tomato season is a bit longer in the warm climates of Southern CA, so I crossed my fingers.

I sprinkled my bread cubes with olive oil and stuck it in the oven to toast. Meanwhile, I chopped up my veggies. Beautiful, as they waited for the bread to join the party.

Toasted, warm bread! I admit… I popped a few in my mouth before combining with the rest of the salad. MUCH better than the stale, untoasted cube I also happened to pop into my mouth before putting the bread in the oven.

Then I tossed everything together with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and let it marinate.

♥MIL MISSION #43: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Voila! Panzanella salad achieved! And it was a tangy, garlicky, delicious combo. Kinda like bruschetta in a bowl. And I love me some bruschetta. This is a great, hearty salad that I imagine goes well with a lot of dishes. And the tomatoes were fantastic!

I served the salad with some homemade (yup, that’s right… from scratch!) potato and leek soup for a nice and cozy vegetarian meal.

And then the next morning, I took MIL’s cue and turned our dinner into breakfast. I slightly grilled the leftover salad, topped with a fried egg and tucked in. Much better than my normal pizza dinner for breakfast meal!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (includes toasting and marinating time)

Difficulty: 1

Deliciousness: 4 (I’d use more tomatoes, less bread next time)

Impressed Husband factor: 5 (anything with tomatoes and basil is A-OK with him)

Leftover-friendly: 3

Original MIL Mission #44: Ashley’s New England Clam Chowder

Well, thank goodness for cuz-in-law Ashley, who not only has attempted many of MIL’s missions, but whose recipes have made guest appearances on this blog, including my fave recipes like banana bread and now this here clam chowder. Being that we’re in Fall, chowder is the perfect cold weather pick-me-up comfort food. I was excited to make this for our weekend lunch and wouldn’t you know it. The weather decided to spike up to 95 degrees just before the weekend. A good old L.A. November! Still a good weekend for chowder though.

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here are the ingredients. I went turkey bacon since that’s usually what I do.

I’ve decided that I like doing all the chopping at the very beginning. This prep part of cooking is my least favorite, and I just like getting this out of the way as soon as possible. 

All my chopped ingredients — very satisfying to look at. Now on to the fun.

Aerial shot! Potatoes a-simmering, bacon a-frying.

And then celery and onions a-sauteing. So unfortunately, turkey bacon doesn’t yield that much fat so I had to supplement with olive oil.

And then of course, when I got to the roux part, there was no bacon fat to be seen. Out comes the butter!

Here is the beginnings of my roux. Flour, butter and whatever bacon flavor is left in the pan. Hope this works!

Starting to come together. Although I have no idea what a roux is supposed to look like… 

Then I dumped everything into my pot of tender potatoes. Clams, bacon, onion, celery, clam juice, milk, pepper and then… zee roux. I allowed to come to a boil (i might have done this too long!) and then down to a simmer for 45 minutes.

We’re about half way done here. Yum, yum, yum!

♥MIL MISSION #44: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Ah, sweet New England clam chowder. I let the chowder sit at room temp for several hours before serving. The chowder turned up super hearty and chunky (I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to turn out that thick — I may have over-simmered), but I really liked it that way. And so did the hubby. I chopped some parsley on top and served with crusty sourdough bread — an ode to my hometown of San Francisco (who by the way, us natives are still basking in the glory of the S.F. Giants winning the World Series last week!). The chowder was muy sabroso. And super easy! Can’t wait to make it again!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Difficulty: 1

Deliciousness: 5 

Impressed Husband factor: 5 (he said you couldn’t have guessed that it wasn’t real bacon… guess that’s a positive!)

Leftover-friendly: 3 (one to one and a half servings leftover from a half batch!)

Original MIL Mission #42: Garden Stuffed Bell Peppers

Like Jessica, I too had… um, interesting memories of stuffed green peppers from my childhood. I only had it once, and it was at my request. I know, I was a strange and curious child. I thought it looked delicious and asked my mom if I could make it for dinner. She obliged and bought me the ingredients from the recipe I found (no doubt from some local circular or newsletter that I came across). I mixed, I baked, I ate. And sure enough, I didn’t like. Similar to when I asked my mom to buy some of those cute little cabbages I found at the store, and then gagged at the taste of the bitter brussel sprout (thank goodness I’ve outgrown that!). But ‘nuff about me, let’s talk about dinner!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

And here are tonight’s dinner guests.

I decided to make a half batch… just in case I relived my experience with the stuffed pepper from my youth. I also decided to meat up the recipe with some chicken sausage. Oh yeah, and I forgot to get some cilantro but had some mint, so I was going to add some mint in there? Let’s see how that goes…

So first, I halved and cleaned up my bell peppers. I cut them lengthwise this time even though I know it’s more common to cut them across the top and bottom, because I’m just crazy like that.

But after slicing, I did question my decision since it left a little opening on the side which would affect the snugness of my stuffing. So much for crazy.

I oiled the peppers and put it on my parchment lined baking sheet. Apologies on behalf of my poor oven lighting/kitchen lighting/camera quality. Peppers entered into the dark dungeon of my oven for some pre-baking.

Now on to the stuffing. I chopped up all my veggies and then placed them in my prep bowls, ready to be cooked. Can I just say I love my prep bowls? It makes me feel like I’m cooking along with the Iron Chefs. Don’t they make it look oh-so-easy? Maybe a little too easy.

I sauteed all the vegetables together, starting off with the zucchini, then the onions — at which point I added the chicken sausage also — and then the spinach, spices and feta. Bee-yoo-ti-ful!

Once my peppers were pre-baked, I stuffed those little suckers as snugly as possible and sprinkled with parmesan cheese and then back into the oven to finish off!

♥MIL MISSION #42: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Agree, these are not your average stuffed peppers! They were delicious and I was super excited that I liked them A LOT! And so did the hubby. Even with the mint wing-it! I served with a simple green salad and of course, some wine.

And there’s the hubby who was too hungry and excited to eat that he didn’t have the patience to wait for my photo opp. 

And for tonight’s close-up!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 65 minutes

Difficulty: 2

Deliciousness: 5 

Impressed Husband factor: 5 (he loved it! And we had some leftovers, and he said they even tasted better the next evening!)

Leftover-friendly: 5 (even the half batch)

Original MIL Mission #41: Fabulous Berry Cobbler

Berry cobblers are definitely fabulous. You can make them fancy with all kinds of crumbly toppings or keep it simple, letting the fruit speak for itself. But either way… fabulous. And nothing says summer to me than cobbler, or pie for that matter, but it also reminds me of Fall. Remember warm cobbler with a scoop of ice cream on a cool Autumn night? Ahhhh, nice. Well, since September is just around the bend, cobbler sounds like just the perfect sweet as summer winds down.

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥ 

My fabulous ingredients. I opted to make a blueberry (which is my favorite of all the berries), raspberry (because they were just so reasonably priced… ‘tis the season!), and peach (because they just happened to be in my fridge) cobbler. Think that’s fruit overkill? I think not!

First thing I did was rinse the berries to make sure they were so clean and so fresh. How beautiful are those colors.

And then I peeled my peaches. I heard that you can make peeling a peach easier by blanching it. What’s that you say? What’s a blanch?

Well, blanching is a cooking process where you stick fruit/vegetables into a pot of boiling water, keep it there for a short period of time (depends on what you’re cooking), and then immediately put the cooked ingredients into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

For peaches, blanching draws the skin away from the fruit so it’s easier to peel.

So, boil.

Ice bath.

Then peel! Peach peeling tutorial now done.

Moving on.

I put all the fruit into a large baking dish and squeezed some lime on them since I didn’t have any lemon. Figured that would be okay, but let’s see.

I then proceeded to combine the sugar and corn starch. And this, friends, is where I did the first of my mistakes. I accidentally put in 1 T of baking soda instead of the corn starch. Yikes! Luckily I realized this before I mixed the baking soda into the sugar. I tried to spoon the baking soda out, but it was too hard to get it all out. And I didn’t have enough sugar (note to self: make sure you have enough ingredients before you start baking!) to dump out this bowl and just pour a new one. So I did the best I could and then added the corn starch to the sugar. Again, we will just have to see…

I tossed my fruit with the sugar-corn starch-hopefully very minimal baking soda mixture.

And then popped in the oven for 20 minutes.

I then started on the dough part.

Ah, my trusty food processor. Flour, sugar, salt and baking powder all together now. Pulse in the butter and get to “pea sized”?

Then eggs, half and half and vanilla mixed.

And then all into a large bowl and mixed. I think this batter is looking A-OK. Phew!

Twenty minutes later, the fruit is starting to bubble on the edges so I think it’s ready.

I dropped spoonfuls of batter on top of the berry mixture, just like MIL said.

Then back into the oven again.

As I was cleaning up around the kitchen while the cobbler was baking, I realized that there was a bottle of ground cinnamon on the counter. Hmm… Argh!!  I forgot to sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the cobbler before putting back in the oven! Oh no! It was too late to add the mixture as the cobbler was about to be done in about 5 minutes. Sigh…

♥MIL MISSION #41: ACCOMPLISHED.♥ 

So although my mission was fraught with little mistakes, none were too bad to destroy this cobbler. Yes, that is how fabulous cobbler is. When the cobbler was done, I did sprinkle a bit of cinnamon (no sugar, since remember… I ran out?) on top. Figured that couldn’t hurt.

We had a dinner guest over. After our wonderful meal, I served up the still warm cobbler with a scoop of ice cream. I was nervous because of all my little mistakes, but after taking a bite, I realized it was still delicious!!  YAY! The flavor was so yummy. But I do think there are a few things I wonder if I could do better next time. For one thing, the layer of fruit was more “thin” than I prefer. So that means either I shortchanged the amount of fruit or my baking dish was too big. On the other hand, the dough/crust layer was a bit thick, almost cake-like. So although delicious, I wondered if I had put too much baking soda so that the top crust was too thick. Bottom line: too little fruit, too much dough/crust.

But despite my nit-pickiness over my perfect cobbler, I thought the cobbler was super delicious. The hubby and guest had nothing but good things to say about it, AND they both went back for seconds.

And yes, it was great for breakfast too. =)

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Difficulty: 1

Deliciousness: 4.5 (to save room for some improvement!)

Impressed Husband (and friend) factor: 5 (They loved it!)

Leftover-friendly: 5 

Original MIL Mission #37: Four Summer Salads with Four Summer Dressings

Me and the hubby have been trying out this new thing: Meatless Mondays. Every Monday, we make a vegetarian meal and choose not to have meat throughout the day. I guess it’s a Good For The Body, Good For The Earth, Good For Our Other-Legged Friends kind of thing. So I thought I’d make one more of the summer salads, being that the season is soon coming to an end (but I LOVE Fall, so I’m not too sad). And since I already had some Orange & Champagne Vinaigrette from my Wild Rice Salad attempt, I was already half way there!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

My ingredients — all the veggies and all that good-for-your-body stuffy I was talking about.

So making a salad is easy enough. All you have to do is chop and chop, and then toss and toss. So that’s what I did.

Radishes… be sliced!

Next are the green peppers.

And slicing up the cabbage head.

And last chop up the cilantro and green onions.

So I don’t care what people say about how easy it is to pull together a salad, but all this chopping and slicing makes me tired!

But now the grand finale. I tossed all the chopped ingredients into a large bowl, topped it off with some arugula.

And then tossed with the vinaigrette.

♥MIL MISSION #37: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Original MIL Mission #38: Minted Zucchini & Feta Pancakes

Funny coincidence: I was at my friend’s house for a BBQ recently, and she had made zucchini pancakes as an accompaniment to the barbecued filet mignon. I thought it was delicious! And quite summery. So I was delighted when I saw MIL’s mission for zucchini pancakes, let alone minted and with feta.

The hubby and I were having friends over for dinner. We were making a tri-tip roast, so I thought the zucchini pancakes would be perfect for our side dish.

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here are my ingredients.

I started off by making the creme fraiche since I knew it had to stand for a while. I mixed the heavy cream and yogurt into a small bowl, covered and set aside.

Then on to the zucchini shredding. I was again lamenting the fact that I lost the shredder attachment to my food processor, so I did it the old school, sweat-off-your-brow way with my manual shredder.

Six little… er, medium… zucchinis (I was making a double batch for the friends).

And shredding along…

Phew! Once all the zucchini had been shred, I whisked the eggs in a large bowl.

I added the zucchini to the eggs, followed by the feta, onion, herbs and pepper. (The recipe doesn’t state when you add the zucchini — before or after the feta, onion, etc. — so I chose to add it before, but I’m not sure if there’s any difference. Maybe MIL can shed some light!)

Alright. I think we’re getting somewhere. The smell of the basil and mint was so tantalizing. Green power!

Then I stirred in the flour and baking soda and gradually incorporated everything together.

And here’s my finished batter.

I took out my griddle and started heating the oil over medium heat. MIL told me that I should be very “liberal” with my oil (I tend to shy away from lots of oil…) so that they get crispy, since that is after all, the best part of these pancakes. 

I spooned out the pancake batter onto my hot griddle and flattened them with my spatula.

I flipped them over after the bottoms started to look a bit solid. Woo hoo! All came out intact and were browning nicely.

I flattened and flipped a couple more times to get them as brown (and hopefully crispy) as possible. 

♥MIL MISSION #38: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

And there you go. Good old summer, fried fun in a little package. Super delicious. I made a not-so-small mistake with the creme fraiche though. I knew it had to stand at room temp, but I guess I neglected to read the recipe detail that it had to stand for 8 - 24 hours. So needless to say, when we were ready to serve the meal (about 1.5 hours after making the creme fraiche), it was still a watery mixture. Whoops! I didn’t have any applesauce or apples per MIL’s wing-its, so I whipped up a yogurt, garlic and salt mixture that my friend suggested, and it went very nicely with the pancakes — thank goodness for friends with more cooking experience than me!

But we did have a second round of pancakes (yes, our meal turned into a day-long event!), and by then, the creme fraiche was ready. I was amazed at how thick it got, and that dairy can sit out at room temp for that long! You learn something new every day.

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 45 minutes (not including the creme fraiche, but including the manual zucchini grating)

Difficulty: 2

Deliciousness: 4 (I’d like to get them even crispier the next time around… I guess that means even more oil!)

Impressed Husband (and crowd) factor: 5 (even if I wanted them crispier, I got rave reviews all around the table)

Leftover-friendly: None. All gobbled up!

Original MIL Mission #39: Rich chocolate pudding

Oh lordy. Just when I thought things couldn’t be better than the Killer Brownies or Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipes, MIL had to go and do something like this. I too am a pudding and custard lover. But I was quite happy with my chocolate pudding that came in a plastic cup with a foil top that came off with an easy “snap” of the plastic tab. Seriously.

But my world went topsy-turvy when MIL put out this recipe for homemade pudding that was both quick and easy. Say what? I say YES!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

Alrighty, let’s get started.

I was having a get-together at my house with several friends so I decided to use one of MIL’s “helpful hints” and turn the rich chocolate pudding into a rich chocolate cream pie. Plus, I had never made MIL’s Basic Tart or Pie Crust recipe yet, so I thought now was a better time than ever. So first we start off the the crust.

I added the flour, sugar and salt into the processor and pulsed to mix.

Buttery troops all lined up. Ready to serve!

I added the butter to the flour mixture and pulsed…

… until it turned into a nice course meal, with some buttery chunks still visible.

I separated my egg yolks into a bowl.

And then mixed it with water and drizzled the mix into my processor through the feed tube. I mixed until the pastry was just starting to come together. Here was my “test pinch” that MIL suggested. Holds together nicely, doesn’t crumble and isn’t too sticky. I hope!

Then I divided my dough into two little balls and allowed them to rest for 20 minutes. Go to sleep, my little pretties.

After 20 minutes, I started to roll out my dough. 

And then I pressed it into my pie pan and pricked the bottom with a fork. I didn’t know what this was for, but I’m glad I didn’t skip it! I realized later this was to release any steam that was collecting underneath the pie crust so that it wouldn’t balloon up during baking!

I chilled the pie shells in the freezer for 20 minutes and then lined it with parchment paper and the dried rice.

Lastly, into the oven they went for about 15 minutes!

And now on to the good stuff. =)

I started off with preparing my chocolate because frankly, that’s the best part. I used Ghirahdelli chocolate as a shout out to my hometown: Holler back S.F.!! 

These are called the gratuitous chocolate shots. Because… well, you know.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gold-wrapped bars!

One inch blocks, ya see?

Next step: mix my sugar, salt and cornstarch together in a pot until they’re blended.

I added the milk and egg yolks and started to stir continuously.

Boil and bubble, soon-to-be chocolatey trouble.

After the mixture boiled for about a minute, I added the chocolate, vanilla and butter. Oh so smoooooth….

Then I poured the still warm pudding (strained through wire mesh strainer) into my baked pie crust and ta-da!

I allowed the pie to cool for about 30 minutes at room temperature and then chilled it in the fridge for about 3 hours, plenty of time before guests started to arrive.

♥MIL MISSION #39: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

OK, I know this isn’t a very impressive shot of my end result pie. And also, I know I don’t have a photo of my whipped cream (which I made with great success!). But let me tell you… it’s really, really difficult to take a photo of the finished chocolate cream pie once you set it out in front of a crowd. That was my mistake folks. I mean… I didn’t have a chance!! The above photo is the best I could do in between slices. But trust me. This pie is oh-so-delicious. Creamy, rich and chocolatey good. And there was not one small sliver left. Let that be proof for you!

I will definitely be making this again… most likely in true pudding form. And most likely with some espresso powder added a la MIL’s wing-it.

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 4.5 hours (includes crust, filling and chilling time)

Difficulty: 3 (only because there were multiple steps, but overall not as hard as I thought!)

Deliciousness: 5

Impressed Husband (and crowd) factor: 5

Leftover-friendly: None whatsoever… total group success!

Original MIL Mission #37: 4 Summer Salads with Four Summer Dressings

Don’t you just love the long hours of daylight summer brings? I love waking up to the sun, and I love that the sun is still out at 8:30 in the evening. I’ve also been enjoying all the sports mania going on… what with the Lakers being in the playoffs (trust me, there’s no escaping it if you live in L.A.) and the World Cup madness. Even if you aren’t a hard core sports buff, you still gotta love the viewing parties that come along with it all.

Warm evening + sporting event = night out with friends! I decided to bring a nice summer salad over to my friends’ house for an evening of cheering.

♥HERE’S HOW I MADE IT.♥

My farmer fresh ingredients.

I had made a trip to the farmer’s market so I ended up using strawberries as my berry of choice for the salad. They were just so sweet and delicious, I had to scoop them up right away! All the produce I used for the salad was picked fresh from the farmer’s market. Yum!

I started working on the vinegarette. Added the shallots, peppercorns, salt, mustard, sugar and vinegar into the processor and blended until everything was chopped together.

Then I added the lime juice and blended while adding in the olive oil in a steady stream. Didn’t take long before salad dressing magic happened.

I then sliced and chopped all my salad ingredients and layered into a bowl that I could take over to my friends’ house. Note my little tupperware of dressing peeking from behind!

♥MIL MISSION #37: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

I toted over my salad and dressing over to the house, and my friends ordered pizza from one of our favorite neighborhood spots Pace. One of my favorite meal combos! And goes perfect with any sporting event. I got a big thumbs up all around, especially for the homemade dressing. Again, how could I go back to the store bought stuff? And to quote a new word I learned during my last trip — délicieux!!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: 0

Deliciousness: 5

Impressed Husband factor: 5

Leftover-friendly: 1 (again no salad leftover, but I had some dressing to store for another meal)

Original MIL Mission #36: Flaming Carrot Cake.

Remember how I said how much I love sweet treats that are healthy-ish (c/o Soft Ginger Cookie attempt)? Well, we’ve got another winner! Thank you MIL for the opportunity to feel somewhat guilt-free with my sweet tooth. I haven’t met anyone yet that doesn’t love a good carrot cake. I was also going to attempt a layer cake this go-around… I hadn’t made a layer cake since my childhood so I may be a bit rusty. Actually, I KNOW I’ll be a lot rusty. Here goes!

♥HERE’S HOW I MADE IT.♥

The wonderful ingredients.

And today’s star of the show!

I had to first grate the carrots. Lucky for most, you could easily and quickly grate the carrots in a food processor with the special attachment most processors come with. Unlucky for me, however, I could not find this so-called special attachment. I know my processor came with one (I saw it!!), but because I probably had no idea what to do with it, it somehow made its way to the dark corners of Never-Never Land, never to be found again. Hopefully not. But for this attempt, I knew I was on my own.

I went old school and broke out the grater. It wasn’t that bad… probably an extra 20 minutes in the process. The fruits of my labor!

Now the easy parts. I whisked together in a bowl the oil, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.

And then sifted together the flour, soda, salt, allspice, clove and cinnamon into the bowl and mixed.

Then I added the shredded carrots (I opted to not add in the walnuts), mixed everything together and poured the batter into my parchment-lined bake pan.

At this point, I realized I only had one circular bake pan. Doh! So I had to cook the cakes one at a time (again, not the most efficient), but I guess what this means is the wonderful smell of baking carrot cake for a longer period of time!

The cake took longer to cook in my oven — about 55 minutes for one. Once the first cake was done (toothpick clean!), I allowed it to cool while its partner baked in the oven. Note: those weird grill marks are from it cooling upside down for a while.

When the last cake finished baking, I allowed it to cool and had to wait for the next day to finish the cake.

(18 hours later…) Fresh in the morning — time to work on the icing. I loooove cream cheese frosting by the way, so this was exciting. I used my mixer to make the frosting to give my Cuisinart a break. First, I whipped the butter and cream cheese together.

Then I started to add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Here’s the first cup.

Then last, I added the vanilla and whipped it until the frosting was a light texture.

And now time to layer and frost the cake! I learned that you can tuck strips of wax or parchment paper underneath the cake so that you can frost it without messing up the plate. Here I am halfway through the icing process — like a giant carrot cake whoopie pie!

♥MIL MISSION #36 ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Ta-da! Although it’s not the prettiest of cakes and it is a bit lopsided, I was happy with my first layering attempt in decades!

I sliced up two pieces as an afternoon snack for the hubby and me. And it was… delicious! It was light enough for a summer afternoon and super tasty and uber-satisfying. I also loved that this was a straightforward carrot cake, with a focus on the carrots, spices and cream cheese.

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: Almost 3 hours - Prep time (60 minutes, including carrot grating time); Bake time (1 hour, 50 minutes but only because I didn’t have two round bake pans)

Difficulty: 3.5 (I wouldn’t call it difficult, but just labor/time intensive because of the different baking phases)

Deliciousness: 5

Impressed Husband factor: 5 

Leftover-friendly: 5

Original Mission LARB GAI

Summer’s here so the heat is on! The hubby and I had plans to enjoy the warm evening with some friends and cocktails (yes, two separate entities!), and I needed to fix a quick bite to eat. I was craving something fresh yet satisfying, and MIL’s Larb Gai came to mind. I had all the ingredients on hand already, and I remembered how delicious and easy it was to make. Remember how lime and cilantro are two of my most favorite flavors? I broke out the ingredients and whipped up this light meal in less than 30 minutes!

My experience making this meal is testament to two things: (1) how easy this recipe is, and (2) how much more comfortable I am in the kitchen. Now if that’s not reason to celebrate, then I don’t know what is. So now… margarita time!

Original MIL Mission #1: House Granola

That’s right… I haven’t made the very first MIL mission yet. Shame. On. Me. I always have granola in the house, but the store bought kind, because I forget I have a wonderful recipe for the homemade variety, which will always be better than the stuff in a box. I was on my way to an extended weekend trip with 4 of my closest girlfriends, a tradition we do every year. We were staying in a cute house in Carmel, and I thought house granola would be perfect for our breakfast. Plus I could share some of my newfound kitchen skills with my besties!

♥HERE’S HOW I MADE IT.♥

The ingredients. I only made a half batch.

I took a large bowl and mixed the hot water with maple syrup.

Then I added the brown sugar, corn oil, vanilla and salt and swirled everything together.

Lastly, I poured in the dry ingredients: chopped almonds, oats and coconut (I still had some from my macaroon attempt thank goodness!). Here’s my unconventional method of measuring out the almonds and coconut.

Everything is coated nicely.

I laid some parchment paper on two cookie sheets and spread the mixture evenly. Twin granola pans!

And then popped into the oven for 45 minutes. Once the oats were done, I allowed the granola to cool. Look at the nice toasty color!

Then I added in my dried fruit, which consisted of golden raisins and mixed berries (blueberries, cherries and strawberries) and tossed everything together.

♥MIL MISSION #1: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Why had I waited so long to make this easy and tasty recipe? Granola is so versatile — I can eat it for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. I packed a baggie full of granola for the girls, and of course left a significant stash for the hubby to enjoy while I was away.

We enjoyed the granola with yogurt and sliced bananas. Perfecto! And most importantly, I liked knowing that everything in my granola was au naturale. Glad we’ve got a stash to last us for a while!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time:  1 hour

Difficulty: 0

Deliciousness: 4

Impressed Husband factor: 4 (he said he preferred less dried fruit, but granola was great — OK, next time!)

Leftover-friendly: 5

Original MIL Mission #34: Fresh Spring Lasagna

There are three dishes/food items that I consider guilty pleasures that I could eat everyday: mint chip ice cream, french fries and… lasagna. Lasagna is the best. It’s creamy, ooey-gooey and hearty.

During one of MIL’s visits, she made me and the hubby some lasagna, and she wowed me with some added bonuses — spinach and squash — that I thought complemented the dish nicely. It gave it some added texture and color, and the real bonus for me, added healthiness with the vegetables.

I was excited to try this dish out ASAP!

♥HERE’S HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here’s what I started with.

OK, I’m just going to come out with it. If you look closely at my ingredients, you’ll notice a bottle peeking from behind. And yes, that’s a bottle of marinara sauce. I was just so excited to make the lasagna and didn’t have the homemade marinara sauce on stock yet, so I decided to move ahead with the bottled stuff. Sorry MIL. Yes, I cheated…

So moving on. I wasn’t sure how to saute my sausage in the pan. Should I cook them whole? Chopped in little pieces? Big chunks? I opted for the big chunks since it took less labor on my part, and I figured the Cuisinart would do the rest. I browned the turkey/chicken sausage like so.

And then I added to the Cuisinart and pulsed, pulsed them to tiny bits. Smoking!

This took all of less than a minute. I added the chopped turkey sausage into a large bowl with the marinara sauce (yes, the bottled stuff! oh the guilt…), mixed and set aside.

I got started on slicing up my vegetable. I used a wing-it suggestion from MIL and opted for yam over butternut squash. The yams looked so nice and fresh in the store. Plus they’d be easier to slice up than the squash, and that was a good thing for me on a week night!

I bundled all my basil together to begin chopping.

Ah, the sweet aroma of chopped basil is a beautiful thing. Getting hungry!

Now let the layering begin! This is the stage where I’ve failed with lasagnas in the past. I never knew the correct order of layering or the proper amount of sauce, etc. So I meticulously followed MIL’s directions.

First the meat sauce.

Then the noodles and green stuff. The dish already looked so abundant, I wasn’t sure how I was going to layer all the other ingredients!

Pile on the yams.

Then the cheese. I also included the wing-it for the ricotta cheese and egg mixture because I just like it that way. Then back to the meat sauce and repeat. I unfortunately ran out of height space in my dish and was only able to do two layers of noodles. I was aiming for three (per MIL’s instructions), but oh well! Here’s the bountiful lasagna.

I also had enought leftover ingredients to create a mini-me of lasagna. I used a loaf pan to finish off the ingredients.

I covered both in foil and then popped into the oven. Twenty minutes before the lasagna was supposed to be finished, I sprinkled parmesan cheese on top and continued baking until the lasagna was cooked.

♥MIL MISSION #34: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

It worked… eventually! After about an hour in the oven, the top of the lasagna wasn’t totally bubbling as instructed by MIL so I kept it in for a little longer. After about 15 minutes more, I removed the lasagna and let it stand for another 15 more minutes before I cut into it. When I took out a slice, there was a lot of liquid left in the pan. The lasagna looked okay but I was worried that something wasn’t right because of all the leftover liquid. But after biting into the lasagna, my worries were appeased. The lasagna was flavorful and cooked just right. Also, after a little more time standing, the liquid pretty much disappeared so it probably just soaked into the ingredients (and there was no liquid in the leftovers).

The hubby devoured the lasagna, and asked me, “is there pepperoni in this lasagna?” I take that as a compliment since he likes italian meats so much; I chalk it up to the fennel.

The lasagna was great, and it is a lighter, more “Spring-like” version of lasagna when you’re in the mood. Two big thumbs up!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time:  1 hour and 45 minutes

Difficulty: 2

Deliciousness: 4.5 (because next time I’d like to try to include one more layer and use the homemade marinara recipe)

Impressed Husband factor: 5 (like I said, the pepperoni comment…)

Leftover-friendly: 5++ (we ate leftovers for about 3 days — I told you I could eat lasagna everyday — and still had plenty in the freezer for another day!)

Original MIL Mission Savory Turkey Loaf.

Turkey meatloaf is my go-to comfort food. And yes, I do prefer turkey meatloaf over beef meatloaf because I’m just freaky like that. Meatloaf is also great because they make great leftovers. Who doesn’t like a meatloaf sandwich the next day?

♥HERE’S HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here’s what I started with.

I used my lovely Cuisinart to chop and combine the onion, garlic, cilantro and parsley. I happened to have both cilantro and parsley in my fridge so I decided to do a combo. And remember how much I love cilantro? Here’s the mixture that came out of the Cuisinart into my large bowl.

I then added the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mixed all together — with my hands no less! And just because I know how much everyone loves to look at raw meat, here’s my raw meatloaf concoction.

Lastly, I took the BBQ sauce and ketchup (two of my most favorite condiments in the world) and mixed together in a small bowl. Yup, that’s a Joe’s brand of BBQ sauce I’m trying for the first time.

Then the mixture into a bread pan, topped off with the sauce and into the oven it goes. And that’s it!! I mean, how easy is that?

 ♥MIL MISSION #32: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

I had an encore performance of the creamy polenta (which is another easy, yet so tasty MIL mission) because I was already craving it again, and I thought it would pair nicely with meatloaf. I also served with sugar snap peas. Comfort food x 10!! The meatloaf was delicious, and the parsley and cilantro gave the meatloaf a nice flavor. My lasting visual of this meal is the hubby happily eating the meatloaf and polenta after a hard day at work. Ahhh… comfort.

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time:  55 min.

Difficulty: 1

Deliciousness: 5

Impressed Husband factor: 5

Leftover-friendly: 5 (Of course, meatloaf sandwiches the next day!)