Bread!

So really soon I am going to blog about making bread, a family recipe that my great grandmother made. But, for right now, I want to talk about all the ways to spice up bread and make it more interesting.

I'm a college student so anything I can do to make my food budget go further is useful.  There are several ways to make bread into a really delicious snack.  I try not to eat many carbs.. but they are cheap food so I take what I can get. And carbs are my weakness... oh well

1-- Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

Country bread, sourdough, and french bread all taste amazing when dipped in a dish with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. 

2-- Herb Infused Olive Oil

Take some of your favorite herbs: I like chives, thyme, and rosemary... they might sound like a weird combination but when infused into the oil, they combine really nicely. 

You can also infuse softened butter and mold it back into rounded loafs to use anytime

3-- Ultimate Garlic Bread

The trick to making really good garlic bread is to not just have garlic  in the butter

Add 3/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp rosemary leaves (dried from the bottle works fine but fresh is better),  1/4 tsp Season All, and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese to 1/2 cup butter and melt them together.

Spread this on bread (sourdough or french bread is the best) wrap the slices together in tin foil and broil on high for 15 minutes (depending on how hot your oven gets on the broil setting)

You can also brush this on bread sticks and biscuits to make them super delicious

4-- Brie Deliciousness

Take a wheel of brie and top it with raspberry jam and almonds or cranberry sauce and onions, or pretty much anything you think will taste good. If you like spicy, consider grating some pepper jack cheese on top or red pepper flakes and parsley. My favorite is the cranberry sauce on its own or with onions.

Once you top the wheel of cheese, broil it on low until the Brie starts to melt. Then just choose how melted you want it and take it out when it gets there. 

This is good on fruit (I recommend apples) as well as bread. 

If you want to try baked Brie, which is similar only it is wrapped in a puff pastry, check out this recipe from Rachael Ray   Rachael Ray Baked Brie.

What do you want??

Is there anything you guys would like me to cook and blog about??

Best Birthday Cake!!!

So, my birthday passed a couple days ago and  I had some friends that decided they want to have a cake eating party to try a bunch of different type because everyone had their specific cake they loved. 

One of my friends makes butter-cream fondant that she swears is amazing and then everyone jumped on the band wagon of all the different cakes that they can make that are amazing. So it got me thinking about my favorite kind of cake.

People from my hometown request my mother's chocolate cake because it is amazing! Everyone praises it because it is really moist and chocolate-y with amazing frosting. They assume it is a family recipe that is incredibly difficult to make.  The fact is that it is the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box.  Its amazing! Sometimes the best recipes are on the back of the package.

My mother makes this cake on every single birthday in my family. It may seem overly simple but it is amazing!!  It isn't a sugar overload or so rich that it gives you a headache. Its just perfect  :)

Chocolate Cake  with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 cup flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour  a 9x13 inch  glass cake pan
2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed 2 minutes
4. Stir in boiling water and pour into the pan- don't worry when the batter is super thin, it's supposed to be
5. Bake 33-38 minutes.  The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean or when you juggle the pan and don't see any wiggle in the center of the cake

However, I don't like the frosting from the back of the cocoa box...

Frosting is a really important part of any cake. Personally I like cream cheese frosting because it tastes less sugary and it is creamier. There are a couple different ways to make cream cheese frosting but the most basic is:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cube butter
1 8oz package cream cheese
Powdered sugar

Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer and then mix in the powdered sugar until it reaches your desired level of sweetness.