A site has gone

I am giving up on Eating for One. I have started a new site. You can now find me and my ramblings at It's All About Me. Come on over.

Hiatus

I am going to be taking a hiatus from food blogging. I have to focus on other important things in my crazy life right now.

Wraps are cool

One of the things that I like about summer is that I am forced to try new and different foods, or at least different ways to prepare foods that I really like. A combination of food that I love is chicken strips, tortillas and salsa. I use these frequently in my repertoire of dishes. I love spiciness in my food. Usually, during the cooler months I make burritos, enchiladas or Mexican pizzas; during the dog days of summer, I just can't bear to turn the oven on (as much). I have been seeing a lot of wraps around lately and have enjoyed a few at restaurants (and by the way how to they learn to put them together and not fall open is beyond me). I am particularly enamored with the chicken wraps at Buffalo Wild Wings right now. Back to the wrap, so this particular wrap is one that I throw together regularly, but change up ever so slightly each time. To put this guy together I really just throw guacamole, chicken, lettuce, a little jack cheese and salsa into a tortilla and fold. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, but it is good for a quick dinner in 5 minutes flat (and that includes grating the cheese). Not to bad for a lazy.

Daring Bakers June: Bagels

Picture it: Saturday morning 6 a.m. I am sleeping in my sister's bed in Omaha, Willie starts barking at the cats, he wants to go outside. I get up let him out and then he barks because he wants in. Out...in...out...in... Sometimes when we visit my parents I sleep very little because Willie thinks that going in and out of their back door is quite exciting. Saturday was one of those mornings. While I could have made my challenge recipe many weekends ago, I am a last minute kinda gal, so this was it. I had purchased my ingredients and packed them to head to my folks. Of course at 6:15 a.m was when I realized that I forgot my yeast. How do you make a yeast bread without yeast? Well, you don't, you first scour the kitchen looking for some and then you head to the local Bakers store. Oh Bakers. I got there to find that yeast was on sale, but of course I had to have my Bakers card, which was on my keys with the SO in Des Moines... oh the tragedy of it all. So I had to get a new card because, well, I am cheap and I am not going to pay $2.22 for yeast when I can have it for $1.50 (I mean really who would do this). Anyway, I got back to the house and started the baking. I had been following our Daring Bakers blog and many people had attempted the recipe and did not have stellar results. By the time I got to the kneading my mom was awake and I started drilling her with questions about how my dough was supposed to look. You know what she said to me "Heather, I don't know anything about what the dough is supposed to look like!" I laughed at her because this is the woman who has been making cinnamon rolls from scratch since I was born. So I just kept following the directions. You'd never believe it, but it all turned out. This months hosting was done by Freya and Jenny and they used the recipe for Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels as our challenge recipe. I am honestly quite impressed with them. The recipe was fun to follow as it gave advice on how to add the flour. While I would have personally preferred it telling me how long to knead as opposed to what the dough was supposed to feel like, I did alright. I have even been given the request to make these everytime my mother comes and visits with me. These did turn out, for me being the perfect bagel texture. They had a crunchy texture on the outside and a soft bready middle. This is how I like a bagel. While the rules for this month said that we had to keep the bagels on the savory side and we weren't to mix anything inside, I had some fun adding to the outside. I used seasame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese. For my next round I am definitely trying Asiago cheese which is my favorite at Panera. While some may look at this as a time consuming chore that you can easily avoid by heading to Panera, Bruggers or your local bakery, my family and I thought these were better that what you could buy at any store. I truly enjoyed the time in my kitchen making them. While from start to finish it takes a couple of hours, most of that time is rising time and not actual working time. They are so worth it. Please check out all of the other Daring Bakers and their quest of making bagels.

Paula Deen

I finished Paula Deen's It Ain't all about the Cookin' this weekend and loved it. I was actually quite determined in reading it last week. I had told myself that I couldn't start the book until I had finished going through all of my cooking magazines this week, they are so piling up! However, I didn't listen to myself and read about Paula. Oh the things I never knew about her. Actually, I really didn't know anything about her, I just knew I liked watching her show. Paula wrote this book to really tell her story. She comments that after her cookbooks are released, people write her asking to learn more about her, this book does just that. I personally enjoyed reading the book as it is written exactly how I imagine her talking. She talks about growing up and her rise to being a entrepreneur, a restaurant owner and a cooking show queen. Also for those who love her cooking she includes some recipes. I will be honest, I have never made a Paula Deen recipe. I don't know that I have even ever tried a Paula recipe from anyone else, but after reading this book I will be making some Paula recipes and be booking my trip to Georgia for the fall. This book is a quick read and tells a great story about an inspiring lady. Did you know Paula was in the movie Elizabethtown?

Blog additions

I have added 2 new things recently to my blog roll sidebar. The first I added more than a month ago and that is the addition of the Daring Bakers list. This list which will be very useful tomorrow is populated by the members who all have joined the group. We have signed on to each month making the same recipe, using the instructions for said recipe exactly as they are written. Check back here Wednesday to see what our challenge is for June. I am excited for you to see what we made. The other addition is the Foodie blog roll. While there seem to be a lot of ways to find other food bloggers out there, I have come to find this as the "GO TO" list. While I of course have not had a chance to visit all of the food themed blogs out there, this list will definitely keep me busy for quite a while.

Cake Depressed

There have been no cake classes for me to take this month and I am quite depressed. Plus there have been no occasions for me to make cake for. I am severely bummed and getting quite UN-enthusiased about cake decorating. I have been checking out some books on decorating at the library, but it just isn't the same. I am hoping for something new in August because the class lists have already come out for July and they are only offering classes that I have taken before. Oh well. So for the time being I am going to focus on the actual cake making. I am going to try to find some different cake recipes instead of using the box mixes. We will see what results I come up with. Do you have a "go-to" cake recipe that you would be willing to share? In the mean time I am also going to do a little magic with cupcakes. I just bought the book Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella and I think it is going to get some use. Also on the home front, I have been reading a lot. I just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of Pheonix in preparation of the movie release on July 13. Now I am reading Paula Deen It ain't all about the Cookin. So far it is great! I should finish this weekend and will give you a full update. We are going to be traveling a lot in July : Vegas and Philly. I am quite excited as we are taking a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives approach to Vegas and hitting three joints Guy featured on this show. I am excited to indulge in good food. I see a lot of chocolate milkshakes in my future, especially since one of our stops in the heat is Death Valley. I hope I don't melt. I may have to sit in the car with the milkshake.