Monday, August 6, 2007

Okay, here's the article that was supposed to be done the day before yesterday. And I've come to the conclusion that I'll post articles as they come, not once a week because it's a hell of a job. ^^''' Sorry if I disappointed you all. Well here it is! Enjoy! ---------------------- Finnish food and meals There are three meals per day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. In all schools including high school, a hot free lunch is served as part of Finland's welfare state agenda. Among workers, lunch is often not so heavy, and may be a sandwich or a salad, depending on whether the company has a lunch restaurant. In the evening, the dinner is usually a hot meal. Breakfast usually consists of open sandwiches. The sandwich is often buttered (with margarin), with toppings such as hard cheese or cold cuts. Finns usually don¢®¯t have sweets on their breads such as jam or chocolate. Sour milk products such as yogurt or viili are also common breakfast foods, usually served in a bowl with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli, and sometimes with sugar, fruit or jam. A third food that is commonly eaten at breakfast is porridge, often made of rolled oats, and eaten with a pat of butter and/or with milk, or fruit or jam, especially the sort made of lingonberries. Drinks are milk, juice, tea, or coffee. There are long traditions of hunting and fishing in Finland. The hunters focus on deer and moose, but small game such as hare, ducks and grouse are popular for their taste. The game food makes natural additions to the Finnish cuisine. Due to very strict food hygiene regulations, moose meat is mainly consumed within households and is rarely attainable in restaurants. Finnish restaurants are accustomed to serving reindeer dishes instead. To add some vitamins and make the rather heavy food more enjoyable a traditional jam is made from lingonberry and served with meat. A more exclusive but not uncommon jam is the cloudberry jam. Blueberry soup and blueberry pie are very traditional Finnish desserts. ---------------------- Happy cooking! ^^

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Sunday, August 5, 2007

Hello everybody, this is kaisap112 (otherwise known as Kaisa)! ^^ HUGE THANKS to Angel Zakuro for helping me out this week! You did an excellent job! We have lots of new members now! ^^''' I don't know if it's because I'm a bad Admin or did everybody hear about this club after I left...oh well. I'll post the article that was supposed to be posted yesterday (the subject will be a surprise!) tomorrow, since my head's too filled up with camp-stuff right now. So look forward to that! Happy cooking, baking and eating everyone! ^^

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Saturday, August 4, 2007

Cookbook for this Week

Hello, fellow cooks, bakers, eaters, and anything in between. ^_^ Today there would usually be an article about food, but since I didn't prepare one...there won't. XD But I will welcome AISHITEIMASU to the club! Another new member, yay! And Shi-chan, thanks for that recipe; that'll be used next week. ^_~ Today, instead, I'll go over what recipes we shared this week!! Then you can just click the links and look at them if you missed any or want to make them. ^^ ¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú Recipes This Week: Buttermilk Biscuits Scrambled Eggs & Corn Chips Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake S'mores Cookie Dessert Baked Potato Soup ¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú¢¨ú Bon apetit!! Oh, and Kaisap should be back and taking over the club again tomorrow...I think. ^^ ~Angel Zakuro~

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Friday, August 3, 2007

Baked Potato Soup

Yes, Mami-chan is a great supplier of recipes. ^_^ She even sent in another! But today I thought I'd give you a recipe. ^_~ I'm a major soup person, and I love baked potato soup! This recipe is somewhat simple, but it involves preparation time with the cooking of the potatoes. You can also add or not add some of the garnishes depending upon what you like. ^^ ¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾ 4 large baking potatoes 2/3 cup butter or margarine 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 6 cups milk 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 4 green onions, chopped and divided 12 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled, and divided 1-1/4 cups (5 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese, divided 1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream Wash potatoes and prick several times with a fork; bake at 400¡Æ for 1 hour or until done. Let cool. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise; then scoop out pulp. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; add all-purpose flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add 6 cups milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons green onions, 1/2 cup bacon, and 1 cup cheese. Cook until thoroughly heated; stir in sour cream. Add extra milk, if necessary, for desired thickness. Serve with remaining onion, bacon, and cheese. Yield: 10 cups. ¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾¢¾ Most people don't seem to make home-made soups, but I like 'em. XD Happy cooking!

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Thursday, August 2, 2007

S'mores Cookie Dessert

Shi-chan (XxlunareclipsexX) is now a member of the cooking club. ^_^ Welcome!! Yay, we keep getting new members. ♥ Anyhoo, another yummy dessert recipe here...and again, thanks to Mami-chan. This sounds like something similar to S'mores...yummm....on a larger scale though. For lots o' people! ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 48 honey or chocolate graham cracker squares, divided 1 pkg. (15 3/4 oz.) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Drizzles Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough with Chocolate Drizzle 12 large marshmallows, cut in half Directions: PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Line baking sheet with foil. Arrange 24 graham cracker squares on prepared baking sheet; set aside. BAKE cookie dough on another baking sheet according to package directions. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies from baking sheet and place one warm cookie on each graham cracker square on foil. Top each cookie with one marshmallow half. BAKE for 1 to 2 minutes or until marshmallows are soft. Drizzle chocolate over marshmallows; immediately top s’mores with remaining graham cracker squares. Serve immediately. ♥♥♥♥♥♥ I made S'mores last night for my dessert. XD Now to make these sometime! Happy cooking!!

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake

Ooh, thanks. ^_^ More members!! Angel Kat, Lys, and Doasinfinity, welcome! Of course you can join. ^^ The more the merrier, and more recipes and fun! Now onto the recipe of the day! Thanks to Mami-chan! I think it's time for a dessert. XD Yum, this sounds good...and good for the summer, too! And not too hard; awesome! ♥♥♥♥♥♥ "Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake" 1 box white cake mix 1 cup crushed fresh strawberries 1 package (3 oz) strawberry-flavored gelatin ½ cup vegetable oil 4 eggs, room temperature GLAZE: ¼ cup butter OR margarine 3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar ¼ cup mashed strawberries Combine cake ingredients together in large mixing bowl; mix for 3 minutes. Pour in well-greased-and-floured tube pan. Bake at 325° for 45-55 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes; remove to serving plate. Combine glaze ingredients until smooth and spread over cake. (May be frozen with or without glaze.) ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Happy cooking everyone! ^_~

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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Scrambled Eggs & Corn Chips

Yay, more members! Thanks you guys. ^_^ Welcome fairies wings134, squeaker 1, and littlemiko11! I hope you enjoy the cooking club. Now for a recipe! A breakfast one. This is by our (currently) only male member of the club, kirbysdouble. Thanks! It sure looks interesting...I've never made eggs like this! ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Scrambled eggs and corn chips (huevoes [eggs in spanish] y fritos) Ingredients sized for one serving Eggs: 3 (2-3 per person) Frito lay corn chips: 2 oz. (two servings by the company's standard... that's not enough though) (6-7 oz. for 3 people) scramble the eggs however you like (I cook mine fast on high heat), just before they are done, toss in the corn chips so they soak up some of the uncooked egg. Scramble for a little longer (to cook the uncooked ^^;) and you're done! Variations: My mother prefers a dash of black pepper with it. Some people add, queso (cheese), onions... ground beef sometimes (needs to be cooked first, and drained). I recommend ketchup >.> cause that goes with everything. ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Sounds good! Happy cooking everyone! ^_~

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Buttermilk Biscuits

Sorry for not posting yesterday!! It's Angel Zakuro here, and I'm subbing for Kaisa while she's at camp this week. ^_^ So anyhoo, onto the recipes! Here's one from Rethguals for yummy buttermilk biscuits. Gotta love 'em. Thanks, Reth-chan! ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 3/4 cup buttermilk In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients together with a fork. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk. Quickly fold dry ingredients into buttermilk with your hands until a sticky dough forms. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Gently fold the dough over itself 3 or 4 times to create layers. Roll dough out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Transfer dough rounds to a sheet pan. Gather scraps and repeat. Make a dimple in the center to help the top rise evenly. Brush with butter. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven until golden brown. Once they're done, feel free to spread butter, jellies, honey, or even cinammon and sugar on them! ^^ Whatever you like! Good for breakfast or anytime. Have a wonderful day, fellow food-lovers!

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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Here's the very first article of The Otaku Cooking Club! Japanese cuisine and food Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods (shushoku), typically rice or noodles, with a soup, and okazu - dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like to add flavour to the staple food. These are flavoured with dashi, miso, and soy sauce, and tend to be low in fat and high in salt. A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice, a bowl of soup and some tsukemono (pickles). The most standard of meals consist of three okazu and is called ichijû-sansai. Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered (boiled), steamed, deep fried, vinegared, or dressed. This Japanese view of a meal is reflected in the organization of Japanese cookbooks, organized into chapters according to cooking techniques as opposed to particular ingredients (e.g. meat, seafood). There may also be chapters devoted to soups, sushi, rice, noodles, and sweets. Since Japan is an island nation, its people consume much seafood. Meat-eating has been rare until fairly recently due to restrictions placed upon it by Buddhism. However, purely vegetarian food is rare since even vegetable dishes are flavoured with the ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes). An exception is shôjin ryôri,, vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist monks. However, the advertised shôjin ryôri usually available at public eating places includes some non vegetarian elements. Noodles (originating from China) have become an essential part of Japanese cuisine, usually (but not always) as an alternative to a rice-based meal. Soba (thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) and udon (thick wheat noodles) are the main traditional noodles and are served hot or cold with soy-dashi flavourings. Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth known as ramen have become extremely popular over the last century. Common ingredients in Japanese food: -rice -beans -eggs -flour -fruits -citrus fruits -fu (wheat gluten) -meats -mushrooms -noodles -seafood -finned fish -shellfish -crab -roe -processed seafood -seaweed -soy products -tofu -vegetables ---------------------- I hope you don't think this was too short. ^^' See, Japanese have about a million things regarding food that could make articles of their own (etiquette etc.) so I tried to make this one a bit clearer.

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Friday, July 27, 2007

Here are the warm drinks! ^^ Chocolate-moccha -2 deciliters of milk -6 pieces of chocolate -2 deciliters of strong, warm coffee -2 tablespoons of sugar -1 deciliter of whip cream -chocolate chips 1. Pour the milk into a boiler and add the chocolate pieces into the milk. Heat on mild heat and stir the mix until the chocolate has melted and the mix is smooth. 2. Mix the chocolate-milk with the coffee. Check the taste and add sugar if necessary. Pour the drink in glasses. Put the whip cream on top of the coffee and sprinkle the chocolate chips on the cream. Café au lait For 2 -2 deciliters of hot, strong coffee -2 deciliters of full cream/whole milk (I’m not sure which name you use) -sugar 1. Make a strong, good coffee by filtering. Boil the milk. 2. Pour the milk and coffee into two big cups. Make sure there’s as much coffee as there’s milk in both cups. 3. Serve with some sugar. Hot chocolate/cocoa 8 cups -2-3 tablespoons of sugar -3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (as in the cocoa/chocolate powder you use in baking) -(1/4 teaspoon of vanilla sugar) -1 deciliter of water -8 deciliters of milk 1. Mix together the sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla sugar. 2. Boil the water. Pour the milk into the boiler and heat until the milk is almost boiling. 3. Lift the boiler on a cold burner and whisk the sugar-cocoa powder mix into the hot milk with a mixer. 4. (Optional) Whip 1 deciliter of whipping cream and spice it with ½ teaspoon of vanilla sugar. Pour the hot chocolate in mugs, cover the surface of the hot chocolate with cream and sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the cream (1 teaspoon of chocolate chips for one mug). ---------------------- Alright, tomorrow I'll post a food article. As we're all otaku's, I've decided to write about Japanese food and cuisine. ^^ Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis Healthy eating is good, but remember to eat something sweet every now and then! ♥ Happy cooking everyone!

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