I love cooking, and to be fair I'm an extremely picky eater and I've never been to culinary school or anything like that. I just picked up cooking from scratch last year when gold became tight in the guild.

So, I'm going to post my favorite recipes here, and answer any questions I can about cooking in general!

Feel free to suggest things for me to make! I love trying new recipes (even if I won't eat it, I have five other housemates who might try it!)

Recipes
Pepperoni Pizza Dip
Roman Spaghetti
Kitchen-less Grilled Cheese ~~Vegetarian!~~
Spiced Apples ~~Vegan!~~
Pita Bread ~~Vegan!~~
Creamy Tomato Soup ~~Vegetarian!~~
The Best Pork Roast Ever (tm)

Suggestions: (stuff I will eventually post)
Cheesecake
Crepes

Rules
Be excellent to yourselves and each other.

Nothing else beyond Mene's own ToS.

I'm afraid this topic really doesn't fit into the GD. I think perhaps it would do better in the Menewsha Nation forum.

Also, as I couldn't find your recipe online i'm going to assume it's your own. But if not, please remember that all copied material must be put within quote tabs, as you're not allowed to earn gold for something not originally written by yourself.

The quote tabs are these guys. ---> [quote][/quote]

Thanks.

Here's today's recipe!

PITA BREAD!

I've never made risen bread before, so this was a completely new experience for me! The bread was tasty but not all of them puffed up right, so if you're looking to make pita pockets I don't recommend following my example.

What you need:
1 package of yeast or quick-rise yeast (1/4 oz)
1/2 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour (bleached or unbleached is fine)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup lukewarm water

What to do:
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the HOT water. Stir it up until it's no longer powdery. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, or until it gets frothy on top.

While you're waiting on the yeast, combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a small "pond" in the middle to pour the yeast mixture into. When the yeast is done, stir it again, and then pour it into the flour pond. Slowly add the lukewarm water to the mixture, stirring as you go. Stir until the dough is elastic.

When the dough is elastic, it will be very sticky! Cover your hands and a clean surface (I use parchment paper) with flour, and knead it for 10-15 minutes or until no longer sticky.

Coat a large bowl (you can reuse the mixing bowl if you like) with vegetable oil. Drop the dough in, then turn it so that the whole loaf is covered in oil. Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size (regular yeast takes about 3 hours, my quick-rise yeast took about an hour and 15 minutes).

When the loaf has doubled, roll it into a rope and pinch off 10-12 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls, and set them on a clean, floured surface. Cover the balls and let them rest for 10 minutes. Preheat your oven (AND THE BAKING PAN!) to 500 degrees (F).

Roll each of the balls into 5-6" circles with a rolling pin. They should be about 1/4" thick. Bake them on the bottom rack of your oven for about 4 minutes, or until they puff up. Then, turn them over and bake for another 2 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, gently depress the puffs.

Voila! Pita bread!

Like I said, my bread didn't really puff up much. I only got two to puff up all the way, and about 4 or 5 puffed partially. The rest didn't puff at all! But they were still tasty!

You can keep this bread for about a week if you put them in a sealed plastic bag in your fridge.

the bread sounds good =)
may have to look into trying it sometime

Funny story... as I was typing up the recipe, I left the last three pieces in the oven...

Filled the whole kitchen with smoke. :sweat:

But, hey, 9/12 pieces isn't too bad, eh? That's 75%... and I got a couple pockets!

Hooray it's time for another recipe!

Today you will learn how to make Spiced Apples!

If you have never had spiced apples before, just imagine apple pie without the crust nonsense. It's best served hot and it can be a total hit at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners since it doesn't have to be served as dessert! (I always like getting something sweet with my meal instead of waiting for dessert to be served last)

Caution! This recipe will make your kitchen smell AWESOME!

So here's what you need:
1/2 cup butter (equivalent of one stick or 1/4 lb) [to make this recipe vegan, use vegetable oil or vegetable margarine instead]
8 large granny smith apples (you can probably use more, I had a lot of syrup left over)
1 1/2 cups sugar (brown sugar might work but I haven't tried it)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp apple vinegar (optional)

What to do:
Peel and core all the apples. Put them in a large ice bath to keep them from turning brown while you're prepping (room temp water doesn't quite do the trick). Quarter each one, and then halve the quarters, and then quarter the half-quarters. If you get confused let me know :) You can slice them thicker or thinner depending on what you prefer.

Get a large frying pan and set it on high heat. Add the butter and melt it down, then add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vinegar. Stir until a syrup-y glaze forms. Reduce heat if you need to--you want a good simmer going, not quite a boil.

Add apple slices to the pan. Stir a little, making sure all of the slices have been coated in syrup. Cover the apples for about 5 minutes (more if you want them softer, less if you want them crunchier). Using a slotted spoon, remove the apples from the pan and set them in a serving bowl. Then add more apples, and repeat until you've cooked them all.

Leftovers can be kept sealed and refrigerated for about 4 days before they start getting mushy. Leftover glaze can be kept in the fridge for a long time, and can be reheated and used again.

Voila! Spiced Apples!

Wow, this is an excellent idea. Bookmarking this thread for laters. ^^ You should totally make some cheesecake. It's awesome, and comes in many varieties. It's also not all that difficult too make, in my opinion. (is speaking from experience) My favorite is white chocolate raspberry swirl.

My mother makes a fantastic cheesecake, but I like mine light, fluffy, and lemony (not dense and vanilla like store-bought cheesecake). I'll make a note to get it from her and put it up. It goes great with fruit toppings, but unfortunately isn't so good with chocolate or caramel.

What a great thread. I recently got really into cooking too and I'm actually thinking about going to a culinary school or taking some weekend classes.

I lost the original recipe but I love making crepe. I love the light eggy taste and the multitude of things you can do with it. You can cover one or two with a scoop of icecream or stuff them with chicken, broccoli, and cheese. So delicious!

@Keyori: Ah, yeah I'm not fond of New York style cheesecake either, but I also don't like it uber airy. I'm kinda picky that way I guess. xD

Originally Posted by Ionait

What a great thread. I recently got really into cooking too and I'm actually thinking about going to a culinary school or taking some weekend classes.

I lost the original recipe but I love making crepe. I love the light eggy taste and the multitude of things you can do with it. You can cover one or two with a scoop of icecream or stuff them with chicken, broccoli, and cheese. So delicious!

Sometimes I wish I had done culinary school instead, but I'm three years through engineering school now...

I usually make crepes with pancake mix, but I also make very small crepes so they're only good for desserts (strawberries with bananas and whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup! yumm!)

I also get VERY lazy when making my pancakes, so I like scoop batter into a quesadilla maker. Perfect pancakes every time! (just shaped like triangles instead... but they're good for dipping!)

:O I would never have thought of using a quesadilla maker to do pancakes. It's genius! xD Seriously though, I should try that sometime...

It's recipe time again! I hope I can keep updating at least every other-day, but I think I'd run out of recipes by the end of the year! We'll see. Today's recipe is one I used several times during my first year in college. My building didn't have a kitchen, so hot food was anything that could be microwaved.

Today I present to you Kitchen-less Grilled Cheese!

What you need:
Your favorite bread
Your favorite cheese
Any other toppings you like on grilled cheese (tomatoes, bacon, etc)
Butter or margarine
Aluminum foil
A clothes iron

What to do:
Set the clothes iron as high as it can go. While it's warming up, prep your sandwiches for grilling as you normally would. Wrap each sandwich in aluminum foil. When the iron is hot, "press" each side of the foil sandwich for about five minutes each (more or less according to desired done-ness). Unwrap and BAM! Grilled cheese without a kitchen! (although it will be squished, but does that really affect how tasty it is? I think not!)

These sandwiches are great with instant microwaveable soups or self-heating soups (I heard that Hillside went out of business, so I'm not sure if there's any companies that make self-heating soups anymore).

So why a clothes iron? At my college you can check one out at the front desk for free, and you're not allowed to have george foreman grills, quesadilla makers, or waffle irons in your room (acceptable alternatives to stove top grilled cheese as well).

Wow, Keyori. That's really creative. xD Using an iron to make food... Now, are there any safety precautions one should take when following this particular recipe? Other than, obviously, 'Do not touch the flat part of the iron while it's hot'...

Not that I can think of. Aluminum foil doesn't hold heat on its own very well, so you shouldn't have to worry about burning yourself when you flip it over (I like to put foil in the oven instead of baking pans just so I don't have to wear oven mitts, I'm such a lazy chef lol). However, it will be hot where the sandwich is hot, so it's probably best to handle the sides of the sandwich instead of the top and bottom.

Ah, okay. I will keep that in mind when trying this(because I will, even though I have a full kitchen at home).

LOL. I've always used an iron for my cheese toasties, even with a kitchen!
Totally stolen off Benny&Joon!
I never thought of foil though. o:
I've always had my own seperate toastie iron. xDDDDDDD

I'm not going to lie, when it comes to pop culture I kindof live in a cave. What's Benny and Joon?

And the foil is used for two reasons.

1) To keep the iron from getting buttery, and then transferring that butter onto clothing.
2) To keep starches or other residue off of the sandwich.

A film with Johnny Depp.
He makes cheese toasties with an iron.
So I obviously had to copy and try it out. xD
That's where I found this out. <3

Update time! I originally found this recipe from a 4-ingredient cookbook (don't get one, most of the recipes are not very tasty :( ), but I've tweaked it to make it healthier. The good thing is that this recipe is pretty simple and doesn't require a whole lot of prep time.

The recipe is called Roman Spaghetti, but really you can use any type of pasta you like. To be honest, I've tried it with other noodles, but I think spaghetti works best.

What you need:
1/2 lb lean bacon (I prefer hickory smoked, and applewood tends to not work as well)
1/4 cup butter-flavored margarine or vegetable spread*
1 lb spaghetti noodles
2/3 cup romano cheese**

What to do:
Cook the spaghetti as you normally would (following package directions probably works best). While the pasta is cooking, you can start on the bacon. Melt the margarine in a saucepan and cook the bacon in it until it's crispy. Drain the bacon, but KEEP THE BACON GREASE! Set it aside. Drain the noodles and place them in a serving bowl (don't rinse). Chop up the bacon into small bits, then add to the noodles. Pour about 1/4 of the bacon grease over the pasta and toss to get the pasta evenly coated (use more if you need to, but please use sparingly!). Sprinkle with cheese.

This pasta is terrible for you (even with my modifications), but it's alright every once in a while if you start making spaghetti only to find out you don't have any sauce! (I've done it a few times) You can refrigerate this dish and serve it later, but you have to heat up all of it again and re-toss it or all of the grease will just solidify in the bottom of your storage container.

*The margarine is for flavor. Butter and lard don't really make good substitutes. If you have butter flavoring, this works even better.
**You can use grated parmesan as well (not that powdered stuff, ick). I actually couldn't find romano cheese by itself, so I use an italian blend that has romano, parmesan, and a couple other cheeses. It's just as delicious!

I present to you, a bacon weave:


via some random photobucket user...

Srsly, BACON.

Also, before cooking a bacon weave, you can stuff it with cheese, sausage, and more bacon, and then roll it up and pop that sucker into the oven. And baste it with butter. And dip it in gravy.

:drool:

@.@ Sooo unhealthy... I think I want to try that now. xD