Event Horizon

I feel justified in calling this a "Black Bottom" type of pie, though technically, true Black Bottom Pie is a layer of chocolate custard and rum chiffon pie. Richard no likey alcohol (though I have educated him on the fact that cooking the stuff rids it of alcohol content....after he ate homemade beef stew I made with Maredsous!), and I had extra peanut butter crust after making an apple pie a few weeks ago.

The chocolate layer was included to 'break up' the peanut flavor of crust and filling, inspired somewhat by my attempt at Saltine Cracker Delight. Also, I really want to use up all these Krackles that My-Boyfriend-the-Klepto keeps stealing from the various candy bowls at his work. (Not a fan of the Krackles...give me Mr. Goodbars any day!)

The composition of the filling was, to be honest, the really daring part of this experiment. I've been curious about peanut butter pie ever since it was mentioned in a story I once read -- though, for the life of me, I can't remember what it was called -- and was looking for recipes on AllRecipes.Com. Most of them called for cream cheese and whipped cream/whipped topping, neither of which I have.

Then I read about "yogurt cheese", a lowfat alternative to cream cheese (basically, you drain the whey from plain yogurt overnight). I already use plain yogurt instead of sour cream, so I was intrigued. The gears started turning...

After much thought (and just as many rejected ideas for substitutes), I remember chiffon pies -- a type of pie I have always considered the precursor to all these "add whipped topping" pies anyway. Most chiffon pies call for unflavored gelatin to be used, but I found a 1932 recipe for Lemon Chiffon Pie that uses beaten egg whites! Huzzah and so forth!

( Recipe Under the Cut )

So...I originally logged on, a few hours ago, with the express purpose of typing up my latest 'Domesticated Dani' adventure. A somewhat exasperating voice chat about Tech Support, sign-up for an MLP custom swap, and Wikipedia wandering later...here I am.

I found several recipes in one of my Auntie's issues of 'Better Homes and Gardens' that I wanted to try. One of them calls for beer. ^_^

The one I tried tonight was created by Laura McAllister, and is called...wait for it...

"Skillet-Seared Salmon"

*facepalm* Oh, the brilliance. It be blinding me.

So yeah. I'm standing in my kitchen earlier this evening, contemplating this recipe. And then it hits me -- the damn thing is one ingredient away from being topped by pico de gallo. Du-uhhh!

Therefore, I present you with my latest recipe:

( Seared Pico de Gallo Salmon )

Served with brown rice. I flavored the rice with a little dried rosemary, but that taste got overwhelmed by the main dish.

So, we went shopping on Friday, right? Mostly because I've had a hankering to make pasta salad, and a huge bag of frost-damaged peas that I cooked the day before. The spaghetti never worked out as a pasta salad type thing, as I said it might, mostly because I was too lazy to chop it into tiny pieces after cooking...but also because we have extra jars of red sauce and I love cold sketti.

And I was all, "whoo hoo, pasta salad, here I come!" but you can't eat pasta salad for dinner. You need something that at least feels more substantial than a cold pasta dish with mayo, spices, and cheese, even if, technically, it's the same thing, just with hot melted cheese on top.

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So last night I figured I'd make tuna casserole. I am Casserole Royalty -- I can make anything into a casserole (note to self, buy aluminum foil), and the thing is, people eat it! Sometimes they love it! Such was the case with last night's dinner, which, mind you, was created under one particular handicap that had me slapping my own forehead pretty hard...

I forgot to buy the fucking 'cream of mushroom' soup!

Now, this has happened before. I can whip up substitute 'cream of mushroom' with a can of Western Family sliced mushrooms, milk, onion and/or garlic salt, pepper, and cornstarch.

We had no mushrooms.

No problem! That's happened before, too. Then you can just make 'cream of celery' soup with celery salt (and garlic powder and dehydrated onions).

Pfft. What, are you kidding? This is a freaking bachelor-kitchen. You had to buy pepper when you came here. Honestly, who doesn't have pepper in their kitchen??

Oooookay. So we had a problem.

My solution? Turn vegetable broth into a spicy gravy-like base and combine it with tuna salad. Don't worry. It worked, well enough for Richard and I.

I need a name for this thing. Richard suggested "Dani's Tuna Casserole" -- I reject that on the grounds that this is not my regular tuna casserole. I figured we'd call it "Spicy Tuna Casserole" because of just how many spices we did put in it, but usually 'spicy' is connotative of hot, and there aren't any peppers in it, just chili powder. Anyway. Any suggestions you all have would be great.

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( Recipe Under Cut )

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That long list of spices is actually shorter. The four spices listed after "Italian seasoning" are supposed to approximate this spice blend called "Mexican Fiesta" which, I swear, Richard puts on everything.

Also, the amounts in this are rough estimates of what I actually used, mostly because I don't believe in measuring cups when I'm not baking.

( Explanation )

Hot Fudge Cake

1-3/4 cups packed brown sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons baking cocoa, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1-3/4 cups boiling water
Vanilla ice cream

In a bowl, combine 1 cup brown sugar, flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, combine the milk, butter and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until combined. Spread evenly into a 3-1t. slow cooker coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

In a bowl, combine the remaining brown sugar and cocoa; stir in boiling water. Pour over batter (do not stir). Cover and cook on high for 4 to 4-1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center of cake comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream.

Taken from amberlorien

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. Also, you CAN'T use your name for the Boy/girl name question.

"D"

Your Name: Danielle

Famous Artist/Band/Musician: Danzig

4 letter word: dark

Street name: D Street (it's in Tacoma!)

Colour: #DAA520 ...okay, fine! "Denim Blue"

Gifts/present: Dark Chocolate

Vehicle: Dodge Ram

Animal: dromedary camel

TV Show: Doug...but not "Disney's Doug", because that sucked.

Country: Denmark

Boy Name: Darren

Girl Name: Delilah

Alcoholic drink: Daquiri (and since Amber couldn't come up with one: Amaretto Sour ^_^

Occupation: dish washer

Flower: dahlia

Celebrity: Dashiell Hammett

Food: Dinengdeng (it's Ilokano food)***

Something found in a kitchen: disinfectant spray

Reason for Being Late: ...don't have a watch! (yeah, maybe that's cheating...)

Cartoon Character: Deirdre, the Starlight Girl (JEM)

Something You Shout: Dammit!


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Dinengdeng (also called Pinakbet)
Ingredients:

2 pieces bangus (milkfish), halved and grilled
1 bundle sitaw (stringbeans), cut into 2" pieces
2 cups squash or eggplant, peeled and cubed
6 pieces okra, halved
1 big ampalaya (bitter melon), cut into 6 parts
2 cups water
3 tablespoons, or to taste, bagoong isda (anchovy paste)

Procedure:
1. Boil the water, and stir in the bagoong.
2. Add in all the vegetables, lower heat to a gentle boil.
3. When the vegetables are about half-cooked, add bangus; then cover pot and lower heat to a simmer.
4. Let it stew to marry the flavors. Remove from heat and serve.