Forever Ginger ---Almost

A few months or so ago I was watching Rachel Ray on the Food Network. During her program she mentioned freezing ginger.


I thought, what a great idea! Ginger is one of those ingredients that is always better whole than in powder form. But, because it is so powerful, recipes only call for it in small quantities. If you had purchased a big twisted hunk of ginger, like my friend up there. It would inevitably go to waste. Either that, or you move to China and set up shop as a street vendor. I hear competition is really steep.

Since I'm guessing you lost your passport, the only thing left to do is freeze your ginger. I purchased mine from a local grocery store. Still not that big hunk up there, but enough that I would use in about 4 months time.

Once home, I peeled the ginger, wrapped it in tinfoil and stuck it in the freezer. When I need it, I unwrap the tinfoil and grate it into the dish I am making and then back into the freezer it goes to be used again later. What a good idea. Thanks Rachel!

Photo Credit:
Buzzle.com

Awesome Party!!!

Yesterday I hosted a book club party. Although officially we are not a book club. It was just some of the girls from work reading the same book at the same time as a suggestion of another co-worker. So it was an impromptu book club. Whatever it was; it was super fun!

As the host I made treats that were super delicious. I worked hard in my cooking district all day to have this cornucopia ready for the party.

The menu was as follows

Pulled pork sandwiches


Yum

Frog eye salad

Summer squash pasta salad Umm!

Then for dessert I made individual lemon meringue tarts.Donnie and Tracy were very impressed and could hardly believe that these treats were all home made.

To make this party even funner, I had a couple of mixed drinks waiting for my guests. Since we are all of the non-alcoholic persuasion, these mixed drinks had no alcohol in them. I got them from drinksmixer.com. Which has hundreds of non-alcoholic beverages on there along with all the alcoholic ones as well.
 The two I picked were "Safe Sex On the Beach" and "Southern Ginger"
They were a big hit too!

So now that you know the food was amazing, the conversation was equally top notch. We answered questions about the book posted by LitLovers. They were good, but we also came up with our own questions and answered them as well. I was so impressed with Dawney and Tracy's thoughtful comments and questions.

Then we watched "Rebecca" directed by none other than the great Alfred Hitchcock (It was his first movie). Due to the lateness of the hour and our full bellies, we all fell asleep at different points along the way, but we always woke up again.

All in all, I would say this party and book club have been a success. And if nothing else, we now have a name for our book club. Which will now be known as the Impromptu Book Club. New members will be accepted.

Due to the exhaustive cooking done in this district for this post, if you want a recipe contact me directly.

Happy Cooking!!!

Image Credits as follows:
debbie.net
dvo.com
myrecipes.com
brightideas.com
recipecan.com
glam.co.uk

Whole Wheat Chocolate Bread Pudding

This post is less on timeliness (tomorrow is the 4th of July) and more about using what you have. A 
couple of weeks ago, I had made hamburgers for dinner. We like the Oroweat hamburger buns. Since there is only the hubby and me to make dinner for, I routinely have leftover buns, which sit in the pantry and mold until I through them out.

This is truly unacceptable because those suckers are expensive! What to do? What to do? Ah, I know! I'll make bread pudding.

 I searched on the internet for a recipe and found Paula Deen's Chocolate Bread Pudding. I thought, "the only thing better than bread pudding is chocolate bread pudding". I followed her recipe exactly, except I did not use french bread. I used my old hamburger buns. It turned out great! I mean really, how badly can you mess up a recipe that has heavy cream and brown sugar in it.

The next day I took my creation to work. At first the test bunnies (aka my co-workers)
 were startled.
They had never thought about making a bread pudding from hamburger buns. But since I had fed them before with favorable results and my dessert did have chocolate in it, they ate the whole pan.

Smiles and complements abounded as the treat was enjoyed. My favorite was from Ryan. He told me. "Rada, I am going to save all my leftover hamburger buns, so that you can make me this bead pudding again." Thank you Ryan. If you bring them to work, I probably will.

If you want to make this bun saving dish in your cooking district here is the recipe.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

 Ingredients

• 1 (1-pound) loaf French or Italian bread, cubed
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated
• Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and place the bread in the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and liqueur. Using another bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder and mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix well.
Stir the grated chocolate into the mixture. Pour the mixture over the cubed bread in the pan. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally for approximately 20 minutes or until bread absorbs most of the milk mixture. Bake pudding for 1 hour or until set. Check pudding by inserting a knife through the middle and it should come out clean.

Serve the pudding warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled with whipped cream if desired.

Image Credits to:
 carlylyn.deviantart.com
foodnetwork,com