Cooking Adventures: Preheating The Oven Like A Boss

Hello! Remember back in January when I said I was hoping to write all kinds of new Cooking Adventures this year? Well, that hasn’t exactly happened. It doesn’t mean that I haven’t been cooking new and exciting things in my kitchen, it just means that not all of them have been worthy tales to tell on the blog. And I’ve been busy; super busy. But I’m not going to get into all that business now. Instead, I’ll tell you the horrifying tale of trying to make this blasted grapefruit pound cake.

Now, the first thing to keep in mind is that this pound cake is delicious and was well worth all the effort it took to put it together. I’d found the recipe on Pinterest not too long ago and was interested in the idea of making some kind of dessert/breakfast crossover that didn’t have any chocolate. My hope was to give my parents some of it and neither of them eat chocolate.

The original recipe comes from FakeGinger. Thank you to Amanda for sharing the recipe with everyone.

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The Canterbury Toast Literary Cooking Adventure

On this very impromptu Literary Cooking Adventure, I had a sudden craving for French Toast that really couldn’t be denied. Breakfast is one of the few meals that I get to enjoy as I’m usually going to work or am hip-deep in a project and am entirely engrossed for the remainder of the morning. I decided in lieu of several things to celebrate this month (namely my fourth book being put in print!), that a wonderful stack of French Toast would be just the right thing. Even better? I matched them up with some chocolate chips and blueberries for a very berry Mainer breakfast extravaganza!

As tribute, I decided to dedicate this Cooking Adventure to the supremely skilled author, Oscar Wilde, and one of his well-known short stories, The Canterbury Ghost.

Below are the simple directions for making a stack of your very own delicious Chocolate Blueberry French Toast!

Peter Pan-Cake! A Special Cooking Adventure!

Peter Pan-Cake

A Special Cooking Adventure for “National Pancake Day”

A rather late entry for the day, but I just had to get this special Literary Cooking Adventure up before going to bed. I cooked, filmed, edited, and uploaded everything this evening and now I’m dreadfully tired. Still, a couple of chocolate chip pancakes really hit the spot this evening, plus I still have batter for many many more in the days to come. That’s what I like to think about. Tomorrow, when I get up on yet another cold and snowy morning, at least I’ll have pancakes to look forward to.

Cooking Adventure: A Game of Scones!

COOKING ADVENTURE VIDEO

A GAME OF SCONES

I live in Maine where we’ve been getting an abundance of snow… Basically, a snowstorm every couple of days. In between all of this insane shoveling and toning of my shoulders and arms, I’ve been inspired to do more baking, especially literary themed baking. And, yes, I have been itching to do this particular idea for a few weeks now.

Ermagerd! Permpkin Merfins!

COOKING ADVENTURE #68: Pumpkin Muffins

Hey, I’m a horror writer. You had to expect me to do something like this at some point…

Let me be clear: I made a batch of these delicious muffins last week. So why didn’t I write a Cooking Adventure then? Because I ate them all and didn’t take a picture. Yup, you heard right. I ATE THEM ALL. It also literally took me ten minutes to whip up the batter and a half an hour to cook them the first time… so I didn’t really think there was much narration that could happen from there. But, I knew I had to stick with it and if sticking with it means that I have to make another batch of scrumptious muffins… well, who can say no to that? I probably should have. This 2nd batch as it turns out was the more difficult of the two, resulted in more errors, and was for all intents and purposes, a true “adventure”. The one before? A mere frolic. I will say though, these muffins were to die for. I will most definitely be making these again in the future. One is a perfect amount to take with you in the morning on your commute to work. And… it’s pumpkin. It rocks because of that fact. Need I say more?

Orange You Glad Matilda’s Back?

COOKING ADVENTURE #57: Orange Pecan French Toast Casserole

Nothing irritates me more than using a lame orange joke to open up a Cooking Adventure. But honestly, this is one of those few miracle times where nothing terrible happened during the adventure. It was a rare moment of complete euphoria, the delightful mixing and pouring, slicing, and baking that makes up this gorgeous French Toast recipe. Even when Matilda stepped up to bat to take on grating an orange, there was not one speck of treachery nestled behind her beady black eyes. I’m pleasantly surprised. And since this recipe made so much, it would be a fabulous gift to a loved one on Valentine’s Day! Mmm, yummy orange-flavored love. You know you’re excited.

The Elusive Sparkling Cider

COOKING ADVENTURE #46: Green Bean Casserole and Sparkling Cider Pound Cake

Turkey day. I know some of you were dying to see me attempt to cook the giant bird. I know my limits, folks. And cooking a massive 10 lbs. turkey isn’t one of the things I see myself being able to do. I mean, do you remember what happened with the chicken? Case and point, I shouldn’t be touching any turkeys. But, I did however want to make a side and a desert for the occasion. It is tradition that I make the green bean casserole every year. In addition, I also found this delicious recipe for a sparkling cider pound cake but  just seemed too amazing to pass up. It came from www.chef-in-training.com, where you can find many other wonderful recipes. In fact, I’ve held onto that recipe for a few months, waiting for just the right week to make it. This my friends, was definitely the week.

Pumpkins are a FRUIT

COOKING ADVENTURE #36: Mini Pumpkin Croissants

Pumpkin is probably one of my top ten favorite foods. In my research for this Cooking Adventure, I came across a startling discovery. Pumpkin is actually a fruit. A FRUIT. I knew about avacados and tomatoes, but not this. My mind was officially blown. But, I’ve got to say yum. Yummy num num. These things were delicious. I say ‘were’ because I’ve nearly eaten all of them. But I plan on making more very soon… probably within the next day or so. And once again, I had little to no trouble making these scrumptious treats. They were easy, required very few ingredients and yielded a batch of thirty-two, count ’em, THIRTY-TWO mini croissants. Wait… so when I said “I ate them all,” I may have been exaggerating. I gave some to my parents. I didn’t eat all of them… but I could have. And if you make this recipe, odds are, you might, too.