Super Spicey Sausage and Pasta - Culinary 2

Last Tuesday I had one of the most delicious meals that my momma had cooked for me, my brothers and sister. My mom made a super spicy pork sausage with pasta dish.When I took my first bite I didn't know what to expect. I was amazed how good it was. It was spicy but not too spicey where I couldn't handle the hottness of the spice. But it definitely deserved to have a huge glass of milk with it. It was filled with spicey pork, sliced onions, crushed tomatoes and some herbs. I also tasted a good amount of garlic. My mom served the sauce with some Penne Pasta which is my brothers favorite type of pasta. To me the sauce could have been served over anything, it tasted so good. It could have even been served over rice. When I finished my first bowl of the spicy pork sausage dish I had to have another bowl of the goodness that my momma made so I helped myself to a second serving! Halfway through my second bowl I got use to the spicyness. When I finsihed my second serving I considered having a 3rd bowl but my mom said we should save the rest for lunch or a snack tomorrow. She wrapped it up in another bowl and told me to have it tomorrow. When I got home the next day I decided to go and get me some more goodness. As I was getting ready to have it for lunch I realized it was gone. The rest had already been eaten by my brother.I was pretty annoyed because it was suppose to be mine. I asked my mom to make it for "me" next time. I hope she makes a lot more so there's extra for other people in my family to eat. Hopefully she will make it soon because this blog is making me hungry.

Last weekend I made breakfast on two days for my family. On Saturday I made a classic, bacon and scrambled eggs. First I fried the bacon on medium heat until they were nice and crispy, but not burned. Then I got rid of some of the grease because there was a lot in the pan, and used the rest for cooking the eggs. After that I fried up some onions, and red peppers. I cooked these until the onions were nice and clear, and the peppers tasted fine. Meanwhile I had scrambled some eggs in a bowl, and next I added in the egg and began to stir. After the eggs cooked for a little while I added some cheese and tomato. After that I added a few herbs and spices from the cabinet and the breakfast was ready. I served it with Orange Juice. On Sunday I made some blueberry pancakes from scratch. First I added flour, sugar, baking powder and sugar to a mixing bowl and mixed it until it was blended well. After that whisked eggs in a bowl, and added sour cream, milk, butter, and some vanilla. Then I made a well with the dry ingredients, and poured the wet ingredients in. I then mixed the ingredients together until they were just blended. Finally I added in the blueberries, and some lemon zest. I had been cooking some bacon on the side and put that aside. I then cooked the pancakes on medium heat in a large pan. Again I used the grease form the bacon to cook the pancakes. I cooked them for about a minute on one side and 30 seconds on the other. Finally I served them with some maple syrup, and Orange Juice. Jack B

the Best Eggs So, I have always enjoyed cooking eggs. I love making them and I love eating them any style: poached, sunny side up, Benedict styled, omelets or baked with bread and sausage. I love it all. But, recently I discovered possibly the best way to eat an egg: scrambled. Now there are several components to making the best, more delicious, absolutely awesome scrambled eggs. First off, what is the best scrambled egg? Well, the most ideal egg is light and fluffy. It doesn't have that weir burnt layer on the bottom. The final product should look like soft yellow curds, not a mash up of overcooked egg that you need to chew off. It should taste soft as well. Personally I don't enjoy having my eggs smoky or burnt. This leads to Gabby's guide for an awesome scrambled egg. When you first scramble the egg, beat it till its just combined. If you scramble it too much, its tends to be tougher. Its not a huge difference but, less whisking tends to make more lighter fluffier eggs. The second most important thing I’ve also discovered about making eggs is that a little bit of half and half or even plain milk tends to make the eggs even better. Okay, now onto the actual cooking part. Whenever you make scrambled eggs, the best thing to do is start on high heat. However don't cook it over high heat the whole time because then you'll get that crusty burnt bottom part which I have already mentioned. We do not want that. Once you can drag the wooden spoon across the pan without a trail, you turn the heat down to low. From there, you simply cook the egg till its finally light and fluffy. This is the middle ground between two extremes. If you cook an egg over low heat, it doesn't always that throughly cooked and can be runny or soupy. Yuck. But you also don't want to over cook by heating it over high heat. This method works wonders. I love it. And finally the ultimate secret to the best scrambled eggs: mix in cream cheese. Whether it be half a tablespoon or whole chunks, it makes your meal twenty times better. You can whisk it in or you can put int little dollops. Instantly your eggs becomes creamy and smooth and oh so satisfying.

So the other night I ate lasagna. It was my aunt’s homemade recipe. My family drove from Connecticut to New York just for this reason. I entered the house and immediately smelled what could only be lasagna. The tomato sauce gave off a hint of herbs and spices. The creamy white sauce mixed in perfectly with the tomato sauce creating a light pinkish color. The meat in between layers with cheese on top, it was irresistible. Each component complimented the next. We all sat down at the dinner table as the lasagna was served fresh out of the oven. Everyone cut their own piece. It was a little unstable when you tried cutting a piece but that didn’t matter because when I took a bite, OMG I thought I was in heaven. I tried not to eat it too fast so I could take in the fullest amount of flavor. Each sauce complimented the other adding to the essence of the lasagna as a whole. Every aspect of it was good event how long the pasta cooked for. My grandpa says it’s “al dente”. Needless to say it was excellent, I went back for seconds and rather than eating dessert when it was served, I helped myself to more lasagna.

I was given a Rutabaga during class on Friday and was told to do my blog on it. Instead, I took it to classes with me and to my lacrosse teams practice after school. We played catch during our training and it entertained a lot of my teammates that I was running around with a Rutabaga like a football.So for Bryce and his silly “Rutabaga Pie” recipe, I raise you one Rutabaga football! Aside from a makeshift ball, here are some of the more common uses for Rutabaga: The Rutabaga is used mostly for stews/casseroles or baked into pastries in the U.S. It’s a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, originating in Sweden In Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway), they’re cooked with potatoes and carrots to create rotmas, which is added as a side dish to meats.

Saturday evening, as it approached 5 o'clock. The sun had set far off in the Newtown horizon. My mother and I begin to question ourselves as our tummies growl for some type of food. We were in the neighborhood, so we decided to chow down on some truly American grub. Five Guys Burgers and Fries. A simple fix to an enormous problem. Though five guys is not my first choice, or a healthy one either, we decided upon this higher-end fast food joint to dine at. A cheese dog and a handful of Cajun certainly did the trick. As I chowed down on the juicy hotdog smothered in cheese, my mind was taken into a peanut oil paradise. The Cajun style French fries were smothered in a godly seasoning, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, sided with a few peanuts, and I was blown out of this world. I couldn't have asked for a better meal to satisfy my 'comfort food' craving. The meal was a remarkable representation of traditional American grille, and though the deliciousness was expected, It still blew me away. Five Guys Burgers and Fries never seizes to impress. ~The one and only; Michael C. Davenport

The other night I found myself down in the city with a couple friends of mine wandering the streets of New York. We hit the Apple Store for a little while until we got hungry. We decided we were gonna hit an old favorite of ours: Chipotle. I feel like you can really never go wrong with Chipotle. Everything I have ever had from them is exceptionally delicious. My personal favorite is a burrito with barbacoa, a spicy pulled pork slow-cooked in it's tasty juices. Combined with their fantastic cilantro rice and some hot salsa and special Chipotle Tabasco sauce, and you've got yourself the tastiest burrito North of the border. I love Chipotle, and I always have even from when I lived in San Diego, California, where some of the best Mexican food in the country is found. After a very large and delicious burrito, we then started walking around NYC again, a difficult task after consuming that much burrito. We decided for dessert we'd hit up Pinkberry frozen yogurt just a couple blocks away, which I'd never been to before. I decided on their pomegranate flavor, a bold and tangy concoction worth the brainfreeze. I had a fantastic time in the city with my friends and had some old favorites as well as a new food experience as well. - Sam G.

   Recently i discoverd an amazing creation called slutty brownies. This desserts name can be misleading, but these are a slice of heaven. You start with a layer of cookie dough. Personally i like to use chocolate chip cookie dough, but you can use any type your heart desires. Spread this layer evenly. Next you add a layer of Oreos. When i first saw this step i was confused because i thought these premade cookies would burn, but dont worry their fine. I used the double stuffed Oreos. Finally you add a layer of brownie batter. This will just pour out evenly ontop of your cookie layers. I sprinkled some m&m's on the top just to give it some color. When you have evrything layered and ready just pop them in the oven at 350° for 35 minutes and you're good to go. Im so thankful for finding this recipie on pintrest. It is seriously such an amazing dessert. You can eat it warm or cold, and have it with a scoop of ice cream. It combines the best of all worlds. You get a rich chocolaty taste combined with the sweet sugary taste of the cookies. And, even though this recipie sounds dangerously unhealthy, you can always subsitute for healthier brownies or cookies. This recipie is also so open to change that the possibilitys are endless. The other great thing about these brownies are that you can eat them whenever. They arent messy, can be eaten as just a snack, or as a dessert. These are by far my new favorite dessert. -bailey smith

Last weekend, I was very hungry. It was Saturday night and my friend and I had been given the task by his mother to cook dinner for the whole family. We considered just ordering a pizza, but I was craving spaghetti and that's pretty easy to make. But he didn't want to be boring with plain old red sauce with spaghetti, so we found a recipe for spaghetti carbonara. I usually only make pasta with red sauce, so making this meal was a big change. Not only did I learn how to make a new pasta, but I discovered what cloves are. Originally I confused them with capers, but then when I was given the task to mash 4 cloves of garlic, I was considerably confused. After that was figured out, I got to use a fun tool where you peel the skin off of the cloves and cut the ends off, then put the clove into a little tool that mashes them. It was very fun to use. After all the mashing and bacon cutting, boiling and egg cracking, we had a lovely dinner. It was awesome. -Meagan F

Last Friday, I had been given an interesting and pretty unique blog assignment to do over the weekend. When handed a rutabaga by Mrs. Hoagland, I honestly wasn't too sure what i would do with it. I knew you could puree or mash it but that seemed pretty boring and easy. So, after some research, I found quite a different recipe: Rutabaga Pie. I have to admit it sounded bizarre, but the more I thought about it, it seemed pretty awesome, and I'd like to see Cam top this recipe... Anyway, I first chopped the rutabaga into 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch cubes and boiled them for 35 mins to soften. Next, I had to puree the rutabaga and add cream. Into this puree, went brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. It had a very similar look to pumpkin pie. I baked the pie in the oven for 45 mins, and once it was all set, it came out a lovely golden brown. If it were put next to a pumpkin pie, it would be almost impossible to distinguish the appearances from one another. Now, came the time to taste it. It had a very custard-like texture, very smooth and light, and even had a close taste to pumpkin pie, although a more earthy and vegetable undertone to the flavour. Overall, I was pleased with how it came out, especially considering the original product, a less-than-attractive bulb vegetable, that turned out to be a major competitor to the traditional pumpkin pie, and it will most likely end up on our thanksgiving table next year! - Bryce D

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When it was the day of the midterm for my last day in culinary i kept on looking back at how I made the cake and everything. I used the skills that were taught. Before I came into culinary 1 i was uncomfortable with the big knives and how scary it was. The reason I took the class because I wanted to actually learn and have fun at the same time too. I think culinary 2 is more fun because everyone basically got into the process of the kitchen and the rules so its easy. Back to my midterm assignment, baking the cake was hard because i didn't know how to put the recipe i found and make it the way I wanted it to be, but afterwards I was happy with the results. I don't do a lot of cooking at home because both my parents love to cook everyday. But cooking at school is fun because when you share your creation with people outside your class like your friends they are impressed in what your capable of. -Mirna M.

I walk into the middle school and my first class is homec (which is culinary but with a different name). My teacher tells my class that we are making monkey bread today. Nobody is my class knew what it was and I didn’t think it was going to be good. I was completely wrong. My group first had to get are mis en plac together. The recipe called for brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, milk and most importantly, the Pillsbury crescent rolls. We first pre-heated the oven to 350. Then we took the crescent roles and rolled them into little balls. While 1 group member was doing that, the 2 other group members were getting the zip lock bags ready. The zip lock bag contained 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and white sugar and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. We did the same thing for 4 bags. We then melted the butter. After the butter was melted, we were ready to get started. We put about 4 little balls of the crescent roles in the butter at a time and made sure it had a lot of butter on it. Then we put the little balls into the zip lock bag with brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. We mixed it all up and then put it on the pan. We did that for all of the crescent roles and then put it in the oven. I put 10 minutes on the clock. While it was in the oven, I started to make the glaze. The glaze was 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of milk. I mixed that all together and at that moment, I could tell this was going to be really good. After 10 minutes I took the monkey bread out of the oven. We put the glaze over the monkey bread and then I started to eat it. It was absolutely amazing. Everyone in my class loved it and most of the people like me were surprised on how good it was. My brother and I ever since 7^th grade when I made it, make it whenever we have the Pillsbury crescent roles in the house. I definitely recommend this recipe to people and hopefully we can make this in class one day. 
     Michael Parker

 

 

 

My stupendous weekend of camping at my favorite camp and camp site ended with mouthwatering sloppy Joe dinner. Before I cooked it up my group of hungry eaters named the sloppy Joes after me, so now they are called “Sloppy Andy’s”. We were standing in the cold weather and we renamed it. We made it with two pounds of meat, one bag of sloppy Joe mix, a little bit of butter, and some love.  I made sloppy Andy’s because we were in the woods and I would not make anything better and easier. The final product was pretty good because we made it out in the woods.

 

Chocolate!!
On Valentine's Day, many people receive chocolate...but have you ever wondered how chocolate came to be? Did you know that at first chocolate was used to make a bitter, chocolate drink in ancient Mesoamerica? Pretty suprising considering we know chocolate as a sweet treat. Chocolate comes from cacao, a bean like plant. The Mesoamericans used it for religious, social, and economical uses whereas today it is a delicacy, and one would never use it as currency or trade! The Mesoamericans made chocolate into a bitter drink, but in Europe it is very different. In America we think of hot chocolate as being pretty thin, but if you go to places in Europe it is very different. I went to Italy over winter break and the hot chocolate there tasted and had the thickness of a melted chocolate bar, but it was delicious! In England, in 1861, Cadbury made their first heart shaped chocolate, and ever since chocolate has gone along with Valentine's day! More than 1 billion dollars is spent on chocolate in the U.S. every Valentine's Day. Chocolate can come in many different forms, and has a variety of uses, but is very popular on Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day!!! ~Lindsay B.