I've been Memed!!

Sweet Rosie of Rosie Bakes a Piece of Cake was kind enough to Meme me, and I can't tell you how excited I am. I've been curious at to how people get memed and no longer have to wonder. (These are the rules: 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules. 2. Share 5 facts about yourself 3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). 4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their Blogs.)

So I now have to list 5 facts about me, and then pass my meme tag along :)

Fun Fact #1: When I was a sophomore in high school I broke my arm in cheerleading, and now permanently have two plates and thirteen screws...and no I do not set of the metal detectors :)

Fun Fact #2: I desperately want to be Giada de Laurentiis when I grow up.

Fun Fact #3: I am addicted to reality tv, and have everything from Survivor to Apprentice to The Hills (just to name a few) set up on my Tivo so that I NEVER, NEVER miss an episode!

Fun Fact #4: I am currently applying for my Master's in Education, starting in the fall...which hopefully doesn't affect my blogging!

Fun Fact #5: Do not ever leave an unattended dessert around me! I'll eat it :)

And now that you know a little about me, lets find out a little about
-Baking Soda at Bake My Day
-Jenny at Jenny Bakes
-Helen of Tartelette
-Brooke of Cookie Jar
-Jennifer and Oliver at Chocolate Shavings

"Mmm...doughnuts" ~Homer Simpson

When I saw that Peabody from Culinary Concoctions and Helen of Tartelette had decided to throw a "Time to Make the Doughnuts" blogging event I had no choice but to participate. I had never made homemade doughnuts before, and have actually been craving a good doughnut for quite some time, so I figured what better time than now! So off I went in search of an easy...non yeast...doughnut recipe (I'm still terrified to work with yeast!) After looking for a few days I came across an interesting recipe on Epicurious' website.

The doughnut was called Maple-Glazed Sour Cream Doughnut with Sugared Walnut Streusel, it was love at first read! There was no yeast at all, the recipe sounded very simple and the flavor combination left my lips smacking in anticipation. So that was it my recipe hunt had ended!

With the sun barely peeking over the mountains and gloomy snow clouds covering the wintry morning sky, it was time to fry up some doughnuts. Right away my kitchen was letting off the aroma of breakfast, and I had only made the dough for my fried little treats. It was the orange zest in the dough that awakened my family's nose giving them their morning hunger pains.

My dough was ready in about 5 minutes, but need to rest for an hour. So while the dough was nestled in the corner staying warm, I got to work on the streusel which was also very, very easy! The recipe calls for walnuts, but I had pecans, so that's what i used. And who doesn't love cinnamon sugared pecans in the morning? By baking them in the oven the streusel gets a really nice crunch to it, which also brings out the flavor of the pecans. I had to force myself to quit eating the topping, it was so good!

Finally the hour had passed and I cranked the blue flame under the Le Crueset to "High"...time to rock and roll! With my doughnuts cut into typical doughnut shaped I carefully lowered batches of orange specked doughnuts into the hot oil. For a second there I could've sworn the oil was saying "Snap, Crackle, Pop", cementing the idea of fresh doughnuts for breakfast into my head.

When the puffed doughnuts had their summer glow it was time to retrieve them from their boiling hot swimming pool...which I had become quite envious of. Here I was standing in warm pajamas trying to keep my feet from freezing on the cold as ice tile, while my doughnuts were basking away in the heat, turning their skin from eggshell white to summer golden brown...bastards. Little did they know I would get my revenge!

Out of the hot oil the doughnuts dried off on some paper towels. I got a paper bag and dumped some cinnamon and sugar in it and quickly tossed the hot doughnuts holes into the bag. Shake, shake, shake, shake...and out they came covered in white crystals, smelling heavenly. The doughnuts were dunked into the maple glaze (twice, just to make sure they were good and coated) and then covered in the crunchy streusel.

With the doughnut process complete it was time to taste my creations, and let me just say "You can't eat just one". These doughnuts were so good! They had the texture of cake doughnuts and the glaze gave the doughnuts just enough flavor without being overwhelming, but it was the struesel that really brought home the flavor. My family was so happy to wake up on a Sunday morning and have outrageously good, but not too sweet homemade, hot, crisp doughnuts. And to make sure everybody had something they could eat I left a few doughnuts just plain, and a few with just the maple glaze...mom can get a little picky as to what toppings are on her doughunts :)

Thanks Peabody and Helen for a great blogging event!!

TGRWT #2 - Banana and Parsley

This was one of the coolest, but weirdest challenges I have seen. Tara over at Should You Eat That? came up with a monthly challenge of pairing unusual ingredients together in any type of dish that we like. So when she announced that the ingredients were bananas and parsley I kind of scratched my head for a minute. My first thought was to do something on the sweet side, but then I started to think about it, and I decided that my family would be more willing to try something that was more on the savory dinner side, seeing as how I might be able to mask the banana a little bit. So here is my masterpiece --- Banana, Parsley Aioli drizzled over roasted baby potatoes!!! And OH MY GOD was this good, this was once of the best sauces/dishes I've ever made. I thought ketchup and roasted potatoes were good, but nope...this is the new Ketchup. It took a little trial and error for me to get the flavors right, but my family was so amazed when I told them. They said that the sauce was the best part of the whole dinner. And the great thing about (now that I know what to put in it) is that it's so simply to make. The sauce was a little tangy but very creamy, with a slight garlic bite to it. Without knowing there was banana in it you would definitely be able to sense a tiny sweetness to the sauce, but as soon as I told my family about the banana they were like "Oh so that's what it is, I knew I was tasting something different". I made sure not to tell them what was in it until after they ate it because I wanted to get their honest opinion about it, and I was surprised to hear rave reviews. My mom even said this was the best part of the whole Lemon Grilled Chicken with Bell Peppers, Snap Pea Salad and Roasted Baby Potato Dinner. So thanks Tara for giving me the idea to create something I will be proud to make again and again. For the base of the recipe I used a basic Aioli recipe which I found from the Williams Sonoma website and added half a banana, a handful of chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon zest and Dijon mustard. (Sorry that I don't have a recipe to post, but I didn't really write it down, I just kept adding and tasting!!) But this will definitely be a new staple in my cooking arsenal. And how fun was it to look at these ingredients and try to find a way to make them work! I can't wait for the next challenge, so Tara bring it on!!