How to make Baker's Sugar (on the cheap)

If you are a baker and have ever tried baking almost anything (with the exception of most cookies, I'd say)...but any sort of cake or dough or sugar base of any kid and used Baker's Sugar (aka Caster Sugar, Extra-Fine Sugar) it is hard not to want to use it every time...

Problem is C&H sells it in a dinky carton for way more than I think frickin' sugar is worth.

So if you bake a lot...or even if you don't and just want a sugar that easily dissolves in both hot and cold drinks alike read on:

How to make Bakers Sugar/Caster Sugar:
1. BUY A GOOD BLENDER (OR FOOD PROCESSOR)
This is imperative...being a cheapass myself, I have gone thru many a cheap ($16? if even) blenders. Until I realized that those blenders don't do shit and I could have used all the money spent on cheap ones to buy a good quality one. So that's what I did. I bought a 16 speed(?) Oster blender that came with a food processor attachment. But man does that blender have some blades!

2. In small batches (1 to 1-1/2 c.) in either your food processor or blender, pulse on high for 10-15 second intervals until sugar becomes fine. You may need to get a spatula and move the sugar around (WHILE THE MACHINE IS OFF) to get the already ground sugar to the top and the larger grains in touch with the blades.

3. Store in a tupperware, label, and enjoy!

Santa Paula No Salt Seasoning #89

A lot has been going on and I will be away for a few months so I figured I might as well post a few things before I go.

So this past week, I had a gentleman email me regarding Santa Paula No Salt Seasoning #89...which is my all-time-favorite-can't-be-beat No Salt Seasoning. And what's even more bizarre about this seasoning is that YOU CANNOT FIND ANY INFORMATION ABOUT IT ANYWHERE ON THE WEB! As a matter of fact, the gentleman that contacted me, said that MY BLOG of all things was the first thing to pop up on Google when he searched it.

So I'm here to tell everyone 1) why this particular seasoning is the best and to anyone else that searches it and comes across my blog, and most importantly 2) where to purchase Santa Paula No Salt Seasoning #89.
(I will try to add a photo when I am not being so lazy)

Unlike any Mrs. Dash or any other No Salt Seasoning I have come across, the Santa Paula variety contains NO POWDERED ANYTHING....it is all little bits of spices, herbs, onion, garlic, etc with no salt. And it doesn't contain anything but natural spices and dried seasonings...it makes any pan seared meat taste delicious by the way...cooked in just a bit of butter and garlic, sprinkled with this mix and some pepper...YUM!

Okay so where to buy it? 99c Only Store baby. Now I don't mean any 99c or $1 store...it has to be THE "99c Only Store." You know the one in purple and green letters thats open "9 days a week from 9am to 9pm." Which, as I'm sure you've already deduced...it only costs 99c (and believe me I have tried more expensive varieties from a bunch of different places...up to $5 for a little bottle of what looked like good seasoning). My mother says I should be a spokesperson for the 99c Only Store...but I only promote them so much because they have good crap man and it's cheap as hell.

Which brings me to my next topic...Santa Paula Seasonings, in general.
Buy them...buy all of them!
At 99c each, you can have a pretty complete spice collection for around $15-$20! (Meaning 15-20 different spices, for those slow folk). Their "Fancy Garlic" is another favorite...a few tablespoons mixed with half a stick of room temp butter it makes a great garlic bread spread. Cut a loaf of french bread in half longways and spread on both sides. Yum.

So that's that.

Seasoning Swap

So I had this idea today...
I remember one time when I did a search for a particular seasoning, I found this forum where people do a "seasoning swap" which is where you send a package of seasonings to someone in another location (i.e California to NY & vice-versa).

I thought this was a fabulous idea!

So if anyone ever wants to do this, let me know. I think it's great because you get some seasonings that may not be available in your area. Seeing as I live in Los Angeles, I can pretty much get my hands on anything. Nevertheless I do have a couple items that I get from Thai Town and some other grocers around here that I just LOVE and would love to share!

PS-This also could be done with other items like mixes, cookware, etc....for example, I've been looking for a good flat bottom Angel Food cake pan with feet and I've read on various forums that people have acquired these for $2-3 bucks!...well this is just not this case in LA!

The "To Post" List

I have a list of recipes, meals, photos, and kitchen food items to post about that I need to keep track of somewhere. I'll add to this list as I make & remember more items to write about, as well. Hopefully I should knock some of these out later today...

So here goes:

MY RECIPES
-Angel Food Cake (+ Orange variety)
-AZN BBQ Chicken (& practically any other meat)
-"Bacony" Pot Roast
-Biscuits & Gravy
-Breakfast Tacos
-Cinnamon Pear Topping
-Fried Rice
-Fried Zucchini
-Garlic Chicken Tostada Tacos
-Garlic Chicken
-Green Bean Casserole (+ Vegan Recipe!)
-My Grams' Crust Cookies
-Homemade Pesto (& storage technique)
-Homemade Rib Rub
-Orange Salmon (healthy & frickin delicious)
-Pesto Pasta w/ Pan Fried Garlic Shrimp
-Phonesvanh's AZN BBQ Marinade
-Pork Chop Cutlets
-Seasoned Breakfast Potatoes
-Spaghetti Sauce, Quick & Easy
-Stir Fry, Quick & Easy (20 minutes!)
-Sun Dried Tomates (in the oven, EASY!)
-Tomates a Concassées

OTHER RECIPES:
-Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Monica)
-Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes (Monica)
-Pomegranate Pear Sorbet (Monica)
-Quiche Tartlets (Pillsbury)
-Soy Orange Tenderloin (Monica... what can I say the woman has great recipes)
-Thai Tea Ice Cream

KITCHEN SUPPLIES:
-Baker's Sugar
-Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce
-Santa Paula No Salt Seasoning #89
-Santa Paula herbs, in general

STORAGE & PREPARATION*
-Mushroom storage
-Lettuce prep & storage
-Strawberry storage
-Egg yolk storage & freezing technique
*to increase shelf life

Cheesy Breadcrumbs = A Kitchen Staple

I am in love with cheesy breadcrumbs. So much so, I needed to post about it because anyone who doesn't already make them needs to learn to IMMEDIATELY. Not to mention, they're the easiest thing in the world to make!

Adding grated cheese to breadcrumbs, whether they be homemade breadcrumbs, white, wheat, store bought, Italian, Plain, can DRASTICALLY deliver the most delicious of flavor compliments! I mean, c'mon, when DOESN'T cheese make things better???!?!

O ya! And are you ever left with a little bit of grated cheese that you don't know what to do with? You've made you meal and used up what you needed, but are left with this useless amount of crumbs, enough to sprinkle on A/ONE taco or A/ONE plate of spaghetti? (Well I am as I frequently buy those bags of pre-shredded cheese in all varieties... Parmesan, mozzarella, Mexican 4-blend, cheddar, etc.) Instead of letting it go to waste, gather up all those forgotten and lonesome bags of cheese crumbs and put them to use! To make cheesy breadcrumbs, you can use any kind of cheese you like and if you have a little bit of several different types of cheeses leftover, then that's even better! I have mixed breadcrumbs with Parmesan, Mexican 4-blend, or mozzarella, but the best is when I put a handful of ALL of them in. You can tailor your cheese choice to whatever you're making (i.e. Chicken Parmesan goes great with Parm cheese in the breadcrumbs that you fry the chicken cutlets in....I like to do the multi-cheese blend with my pork chop cutlets, personally).

Okay so here's the deal...
Cheesy Breadcrumbs How-To

You will need:
1. 2-3 c. breadcrumbs (store bought or homemade..I'll try to post how to make some badical homemade breadcrumbs at a later date, but for all intents and purposes, store-bought works and tastes just fine, especially after you add your cheese...but I digress)
2. +/- 1 c. grated cheese (you may use 1 kind or a combination of as many as you'd like! Some examples that work well for me are mentioned above.)
3. A food processor (a higher watt blender would probably work, although it may require a bit more patience on your part and require some intermittent stirring)
Instructions:
Layer the breadcrumbs and cheese into the food processor. (I typically put a layer of breadcrumbs, then a handful of cheese, a layer of breadcrumbs, then a handful of cheese, etc. However, when I forget to do this, putting the breadcrumbs in and the cheese on top seems to work just fine...it just requires a few more pulses to get the cheese fully incorporated into the breadcrumbs.) Pulse the food processor 5-10 times at about 5-10 second intervals. You should barely be able to see the cheese when it is done and it should not be clumped in any way. After this is done, use as you normally would!
Here's my multi-cheese crumbs on my pork chop cutlets!:

The Start.

If you know me you know I have a massive sweet tooth...actually I think I have a tooth entirely made out of sugar. This also leads to the fact that I have a DEEP affinity for ice cream... particularly Ben & Jerry's. Most people who have eaten at my place or looked into my freezer know I have anywhere from 1-4 quarts of B&J's ice cream at any given point in time. My boyfriend once asked me, "If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one type of food to sustain yourself what would it be?" With no regard to nutritional value I immediately scoffed at him and replied, "Ben & Jerry's ice cream. duh." It's not even that I think their brand or packaging or anything else is that special ...it's just that no other company makes ice cream in such creatively DELICIOUS (as in eat a pint and a half in negative 2 minutes delicious) as they do AND is as readily available as theirs. It's stocked in just about every grocery store and 7-Eleven around.

So, after spending too many of my hard-earned dollars on B&J's pints , I saw an electric ice cream maker on sale at Target for about 30 bucks and decided to buy it. This way I could make my own flavors EXACTLY the way I like them: with more of the goodies (a.k.a. a MUCH higher mixed in toppings to ice cream ratio), only the richest ingredients (no fat-free or diet stuff here) and none of the unpronounceable stuff. Over the past few weeks, I then started a nightly obsession of scouring the internet for the most scrumptious ice cream & sorbet recipes.

Now, I already pride myself in being a pretty good cook (I mean I'm only 24 and cooking in my generation is a dead art you could say. The only other person I know around my age that cooks is my best friend Deanna, and she's 28 and is married so I don't know if that counts or not), but I must note that I wasn't always so good in the kitchen (but that's a topic for a different day). So anyways, being confident in my abilities, I wasn't looking for easy recipes, I was looking for DELICIOUS recipes i.e. cherry cheesecake, coffee chocolate chunk, pumpkin pie etc. I amassed quite a collection of ice cream & sorbet recipes (to add to my already existing collection of other recipes (...mostly desserts, but other meal items, as well).

Being a bit of a perfectionist afflicted with OCD, I always layout any recipes I find in a template I made on the computer to include a clear description of the recipe name, date i found it, URL link or book name, ingredients, directions, and any photos. My boyfriend, and my most readily available (and willing) taste tester was walking out of the kitchen and passed by me for the millionth time as I was hunched over the computer desk editing my recipe collection. He suggested I start a recipe blog since I already have a ton of recipes. I thought it was a good idea, but my lazy subconscious told me it'd be too much work.

So, since starting the ice cream recipe collection, I've attempted coffee ice cream thrice, lemon sorbet and pomegrante pear sorbet. As I mentioned before, I have become a rather good cook and really don't make anything anymore that doesn't come out less than awesome. But man, ice cream making is a whole other ball game. THERE ARE SO MANY STEPS! You have to scald this, make that custard base, cool this, reheat that, prepare this on the side, while being cautious to not go over certain temperature marks. FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN?!?!!! I JUST WANT TO EAT SOME ICE CREAM!!!@#$%&^%&

Admittedly, I totally botched all of the coffee ice creams. The first never even made it to ice cream state, the second didn't set right in the ice cream maker due to the fact that the paddle was rotating backwards unbeknownst to me until after it was "done" and the third was an icy disaster. In fact, the third batch is STILL sitting in the fridge and the only use I came up for it was disguising it via a homemade frappuccino ...wwwwhich I only made once. Needless to say, I was very disheartened as I was not used to making something that didn't come out a 10 out of 10. So I moved on to sorbet's thinking the simplier process would be a much better starting point. (Now you might be asking "Cassi, why didn't you just start by making vanilla" as many before you have asked ...BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT VANILLA ICE CREAM! I DON'T BUY IT IN THE STORE PREEEE-MADE SO WHY WOULD I WASTE MY TIME MAKING IT AT HOME?!!?!?!? anyways.......) So, thankfully, my lemon sorbet came out freakin' awesome! I made 4 lemon cups filled with mounds of lemon sorbet and the rest filled up a quart sized tub that was gone as quick as an Asian man's comb-over on a windy day! I followed that up by making pomegranate pear sorbet, which came out perfect, but just a bit too grainy (from the pear) for my taste.

In any event, I decided "What the hell!?" and to just go ahead and do this recipe blog thing. I'm always taking proud pictures of what I make to send to my mom (as she knows I wasn't always such a hot-shot in the kitchen), calling my mom and grandmother for their recipes and I've started branching out and formulating my own creations with what I know of how food tastes and works, not to mention the fact that my boyfriend is always going back for thirds and fouths after I make meals (like with my death-row-last-meal-request-worthy Bacony Pot Roast). Now, I take my food photos with my humble little digital camera, but since my boyfriend is a photographer, he said I could use his camera to take some higher quality pics. I do know my way around not only food, but also used to work as a computer tech, and am a novice photographer, to boot! So, I have all the pieces, why not put them together to make a new-age "cookbook" online and show my kitchen creations off to my friends, family, and any other cooks out there on the web! I'd love to share my recipes, receive feedback, and just further my enjoyment of all things food!

PS- I'd like to thank my Grams for her every meal that's always utterly delicious and thus inspiring me to learn to cook, my Mom for her meals that remind me of Home, Sammy for always being my #1 fan in the kitchen and always being my most readily available and willing taste tester and lastly Monica of Lick the Bowl Good, a blog that I found randomly in search of a cherry cheesecake ice cream recipe and always seem to go back to for her other delicious recipes, beautiful presentations and photos ...and now, some inspiration in creating my own blog. She doesn't know I exist but sure know who she is ...and that her recipes are mouthwatering. If you don't believe me, go check her out for yourself!