Food

Pizza Oven

We started work on our very own pizza oven in April of 2018.  Here is it July of 2019 and it's still not done, but it's close.  It has been in working condition since the fall of 2018, but it looked ugly.  So, this year Tyler has been working on stuccoing the dome again (some fell off over the winter because we didn't cover it) and rendering the cinder blocks to give it a stucco effect as well.  Here are some photos of our pizza oven journey: 

Kaylee wearing Tyler's flame retardant gloves and apron

Our first attempt at pizza, yummy!

It's finally ready to use!

Getting ready to stucco the back dome

Mixing clay with our feet until 1 in the morning

We got some free empty bottles on Craigslist to use as insulation for a layer of the pizza oven.  Kaylee wanted to help so bad, so her chore was bringing the almost 150 bottles to the pizza oven.

Lots and lots of bottles!

Kaylee putting on sunscreen so she could help with the pizza oven :)

Gingerbread

This Christmas marked the first time we did gingerbread from scratch.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought, but we didn't even try to do anything fancy either.  I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and was absolutely exhausted after just baking it, so decorating had to wait for another day!  Kaylee was excited though, she couldn't wait for them to come out of the oven!

Bastilla

When Tyler and I were in Portland a couple years ago, we went to a Moroccan restaurant and had some super delicious food.  Since then, we have been trying to recreate those--Moroccan Lentil Soup, Kebabs with rice, etc.  What we hesitated to recreate was Bastilla.  We hesitated because it seemed like it would be super hard.  But, I made it yesterday and it was easy and delicious!  It is an appetizer, not a dessert and sounds disgusting, but let me just tell you...IT IS DELICIOUS!!!  It has chicken and scrambled eggs flavored with Moroccan spices and almonds wrapped in phyllo dough and covered in powdered suger and cinnamon.  

The recipe we used can be found here:  http://www.grouprecipes.com/35689/moroccan-bastilla.html.  

There are a lot of different version of this recipe, but we decided on this one because it seemed the most simple.  The flavors weren't as strong as I thought they should be, so next time we're going to try some different spices and maybe marinating the chicken instead of just boiling the chicken.  It's not traditional, but I think it could make the flavor stronger.  

 Macaroons

Macaroons!  Never had one, always wanted to, but I mean $3 for one tiny measly cookie!  I don't think so!  So, I tried making them.  Tyler got me a macaroon cookbook and I can say now that I totally understand why macaroons are so expensive.  They are very involved (but not hard).  I made lemon poppy seed macaroons with Italian Meringue lemon frosting.  They ended up really good and I will be trying other recipes again soon!  

Salmon Fresca

While in Utah for Tyler's thesis defense, we went to a restaurant called Brio.  I ordered Salmon Fresca and fell in love with it.  It was awesome!  So, we decided to recreate it.  Salmon over the top of sweet potatoes with asparagus and a balsamic vinegar reduction.  Mmmmm, heaven!  Our version wasn't as good as the restaurant, but it was pretty close.  So, maybe next time we'll make some tweaks and it will just get better!  :)  

We used this recipe, but like I said it needs some tweaks...but just in case you want to try it: http://oncallcook.blogspot.com/2014/09/grilled-salmon-fresca-brio-copy-cat.html 

Strawberry Custard Tarts

Tyler and I found a new show on Netflix that is super fun! It is called the Great British Bake Show and quite frankly I have been obsessed with it. All of our past previous "bakes" have been inspired by the show. Maybe inspired isn't the right word...Through the show we've gained the courage to try to make things that we previously thought were too hard. Such is true with what we made tonight (April 30, 2017). Tyler's best friend, Trevor, came over and we decided to have a treat (because we've been trying to be really good and not eat much sugar). We decided to make custard tarts with glazed strawberries on top.

Let's just say that they tasted great, but we learned a few things for next time.

1) Making pastry shells using the bottom of muffin tins didn't work. The pastry just cracked and broke. However, we were able to put them in paper muffin liners and eventually fill them with custard. The custard was thick enough that it didn't spill out the cracks. The pastry just didn't look very pretty.

2) Ramekins worked better for the pastry, but because I weight the dough down when I blind baked it, the dough got too puffy and thick.

3) Always make more custard than you think you need. I didn't make enough and had to make two extra batches.

4) Never think something is too hard, you can do anything if you try. If you don't succeed the first time, just keep practicing :)

Swiss Roll

For Easter this year, we decided to do something different. We decided to make a carrot cake flavored swiss roll. It turned out tasty, but I was still disappointed in it. Our pan was too large, so it didn't rise as much as I wanted it to. It also cracked as I was putting the filling on. But, I read a few things online that should help with the cracking for next time. So hopefully, the next time it will turn out better looking. But, we were very satisfied with the flavor of the carrot cake and cream cheese filling. Delicious!

Cream Puffs

I decided for my birthday that instead of a regular cake, we would try to make cream puffs.  We used the recipe found here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cream-puffs-and-clairs-recipe.  It was a good recipe, but I thought we had done it wrong!  When we took them out of the oven, they looked like something had gone wrong inside. The outside looked beautiful and just right, but the inside didn't.  We tasted them hot and it tasted eggy.  Little did we know that once they had cooled down and had whipped cream inside, that they were super tasty!

We decided that next time, we want to try savory ones.  Maybe some cream cheese with herbs whipped with some cream to be light and fluffy with some smoked salmon on top...  that might need to wait for a while though. :)

Public domain photo (we forgot to take a picture, but they looked a lot like this)