simmering sundays: backwards strawberry cheesecake.

Oh hey guys. I think that a hearty "Welcome Back!" is in order for you....and mostly for me. In any case, what is on the menu today is impressively delicious and will hopefully make up for my absence. 


I don't really know what to call these things. Cheesecake filled strawberries seems to be the most basic name. But they taste so delicious. Here is the link. The filling is incredibly heavenly. I have no pictures because my hands were immediately messy from the chocolate. Plus, my family devoured them all in such a short time there was hardly any time for photos. But I think the pictures on the website are lovely enough. So if you want an impressive, yet easy dessert, pick these!


5 Out of 5 Carrots for Taste.  

simmering sundays: where's all the food?

Sometimes even Sundays, the typical relaxation and rest day, need a rest. That's what last Sunday was. A rest from foodgawker. Because I still made food, even though I didn't take pictures of it. First time pan searing steaks and I definitely need to practice. First mistake? The pan was WAY too hot. Anyway, I did try a new recipe from foodgawker. They're imitation Chick-Fil-A Chicken Nuggets. The honey mustard sauce further down the site is awesome. So awesome that I put it on my pulled pork sandwich at dinner and my later-night grilled cheese sandwich snack. This girl loves her some sandwiches. 


I didn't take any pictures, so just use the ones that the original site uses or your imagination. It'll be fun. 


The chicken was easy enough to prepare. The only thing was that the chicken tasted a lot like the flour it was coated in. BUT some of the pieces were left in the bag until very last so that might have had something to do with it. Plus, I do not own a restaurant-size deep fryer and so the bits that fell off the chicken pieces while frying totally could have swam up, and through osmosis, made the chicken taste more like flour. 


Anyway, these nuggets are bomb and so is the fact that you don't have to go to Chick-Fil-A all the time to get them now. Make tons and save 'em for leftovers or sack lunches during the week. And I'm telling ya, you'll want to make extra of the honey mustard because it goes a long way.....

simmering sundays: mini cinnamon rolls.

Hey guys. Today's post comes a little later in the evening because I just finished playing Clue with my family. And the answer to your burning question is no, I did not win. But I did have one clue right! On to today's adventure: mini cinnamon rolls in 30ish minutes! I love cinnamon rolls, mostly homemade ones. Especially The Pioneer Woman's. These ones take crescent rolls, cinnamon, butter, sugar, and a muffin tin. Personally, they tasted too much like crescent rolls to me, but I'm a cinnamon roll elitist. So if you're in a pinch and need a cinnamon sugar fix, you can whip these right up in no time. 


3 out of 5 Carrots for Taste. 

finally, some dance talk.

Guys, it's time that I finally start to talk about dance. Seeing as I've been doing it seriously for the past four years, am about to graduate with a degree in dance, and the name of this website is The Dancing Carrot. Plus I've had a couple of awesome dance experiences this past weekend. 


First, I auditioned for the show So You Think You Can Dance. Again. I auditioned the spring semester before I got into the dance department at the U, and obviously failed because you didn't see me on TV. Well, I can firmly tell you that you will not see me again. Unless they show a clip where I'm looking skeptically at the crazy screaming people. Seriously, cameras make people act weird. However, after spending 12+ hours watching other people dance, my resolve to dance like I do turned from a liquid-y concrete mix to a hardened cement slab that will not yield no matter how many people walk on it. It's really hard to change your dancing style in a matter of minutes, especially when a British producer is telling you to be unique while simultaneously choosing the exact same kind of dancer time after time. Plus it's not good for a person's character to change. If I learned anything and can relate it to you, it would be to always be growing, but always stay true to yourself. Why would you want to look back at some (perhaps amazing, but fake) stuff and not recognize who did it all?


The second awesome thing to happen last week was I was a student performer with a touring dance company from San Francisco, Joe Goode Performance Group. I had a couple of rehearsals with them and their dog which is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. They are lovely, mellow, and completely Californian. I don't have a clip of me dancing with them, but here's a video to leave you with. Just imagine a flash of red hair every now and then. 

simmering sundays: frittata.

Welcome back to Simmering Sundays and feel free to fancy up your pronunciation of today's dish at any time. It's a frittata! Basically a bunch of ingredients and eggs that are baked. Now, for my version of the recipe I left out the mushrooms. Not only do I not like them, but we didn't have any. WIN. The key to this recipe is either having an oven-safe skillet (I and the original author used a cast-iron one) or pour everything into an oven-safe dish and do it that way. I do have to admit, though, it does look pretty cool in cast-iron. 

Butter is always good. 

I used hashbrowns instead of chopped potatoes. 

Green onions!

If you have the choice between shredded or block cheese, go with the block. It creates little cheesy volcanoes that are so wonderful. 

Make sure you watch it in the oven. When it's NOT done, the center will be lower and still plenty gooey. When it IS done, the center will be the same height and not gooey. 

The snow storm from last week left my backyard view like this. Not bad, I'd say. 

A slice of frittata. So delicious. And wonderful for breakfast leftovers. You might want to consider making enough so that you have leftovers. Until next time!

Definitely 5 out of 5 Carrots for Taste. 

simmering sundays: salsa verde.

Welcome to the second ever Simmering Sunday! You guys are totally part of history in the making. As I'm writing I'm watching the pilot episode of Worst Cooks in America on Food Network. It's a bit ironic with this post, really. And just mostly sad that there are people who don't know how to properly cook scrambled eggs. I thought that that was a given...? Anywho, onto the main event!


This weekend's trip was south of the border to make some Roasted Tomatillo and Jalapeno Salsa Verde. I was a bit worried because I've never used tomatillos, and I kind of have a tiny spice threshold. But onward and spicier! I actually took this salsa to a class party, yes we're seniors in college, and it was a hit! I would definitely cut down on the cilantro, but that's because I'm not cilantro's biggest fan. This stuff is great with chips, but I also imagine that it would be fantastic as a sauce on other things, probably mostly meat. :D

 These are tomatillos. They actually come enveloped in leaves so they look kind of shriveled. But they're not. 

 This is cilantro. Again, I would scale back how much the person says to put in, but that's just me. 

 Roastin' away!

 I used this instead of real limes. 

 Keep the seeds in the jalapenos if you want some extra spice. 

And here it is! So much fun and deliciousness. 

I give this a 4 Carrot Rating for taste. 

Tune in next week for another culinary adventure, and during the week to see if public transportation (or my life) can live up to its past reputation. 

simmering sundays: the beginning.

I have decided to institute a recurrent posting process. Translation? I'm starting a new series I'm calling Simmering Sundays where I take a new recipe from Food Gawker, make it, take photos, rate it, and share it with you guys. Pretty fun, eh? This gives me an excuse to always be trying new things. Also, it helps me get a friend off of my back who loves to talk stern to me when I go more than a week without posting (I send my love, Mark). Plus, you get to see if I think the recipe I try is good so you don't have to go through so much of the trial-and-error process! So enough with all this blabber, it's reminding me too much of meetings and I SERIOUSLY dislike meetings of any matter, and on to the food!!

I'm starting Simmering Sundays off with a bang. Literally. And Literarily. My first experiment is called Bang Bang Chicken. Here's the link. I've actually been to the restaurant, Bonefish, that the author talks about and had Bang Bang Shrimp. So delicious and spicy and crunchy and insert-other-positive-adjectives. Finding out that I didn't have to splurge and buy shrimp? Even better. However, you'll need a couple of possibly obscure pantry items. 

An Asian hot sauce, Sriracha, dried basil leaves, garlic powder, rice vinegar, and panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Please ignore the cumin, I misinformed myself. 

The recipe is easy enough, but the breading process takes a while. I figured out a way to keep my fingers cleaner and make it go by semi-quicker, though!

Please make sure you cut your chicken into bite-size pieces. This missed quality inspection, somehow. My dad heard about it.

The best thing about panko? It makes for super crispy fried stuff. Mmmmm.....

 This is the chicken with all the spicy goodness. 

 Upon a bed of rice!

This is my sister. She loves eating my cooking. And eating with the rest of the family while constantly being told to put her phone away by her sister and father. We were at dinner - texting can wait, man. 

Overall, this recipe was bangin'. *Enter in film clip of Robin Williams in Hook after eating at the Lost Boys' table "Bang-a-rang." The breading was kind of long, but we did have a lot of chicken. It tasted delicious on rice and was just the right amount of spice. I can't wait to have this for leftovers. 

5/5 Carrots for Taste