Japanese Stir Fry

I know I haven't updated this blog in a ridiculous amount of time but I've been so busy! Yay me! Things I've done since my last blog update:
1. Got a full time job
2. Serious relationship things
3. Gallivanting all over creation... IRELAND, SCOTLAND AND THE ISLE OF MAN!! (oh, man! Gorgeous! I find myself still getting homesick even though I was only out of the states for 2 and a half weeks)
4. Moved across the town to a beautiful house/apartment with a lovely porch where I can grow fresh herbs and tomatoes!

Not really that many things when you think about it! But to me it seemed like a lot! Anyway, on to the actual cooking part of this blog!

My roommate, Brianna, is pretty awesome and is the originator of this recipe.  One day she threw together everything she had left in her cupboard for a Japanese-inspired stir fry!  She loved it so much she kept making it and one day made it for me!  I fell in love with it but
decided to add my own twist to it and here it is!  It's lovely for a meal for one (putting the left-overs in the fridge for a lunch to bring with me to work) or enough for two.

Total Time: Aprox. 15 minutes

1 bundle japanese udon noodles-dry
1 can (13.25 oz) of Mushroom pieces and stems (or equivalent of fresh cut up mini-bella mushrooms add half cup of water to compensate for liquid normally in can)
1 can (6.5 oz) chopped clams (you can substitute for more mushrooms if you TRY IT with the clams and don't enjoy them at all)
3 splashes Balsamic Vinegar
3 tsp olive oil
2 splashes of Worcestershire sauce
Sriracha to taste (a little goes a long way!)
salt and pepper to taste

serves 2

1. Boil water and add the Udon noodles, follow the package directions for the noodles
2. While waiting for the while to boil, add to a frying pan all other ingredients (including juice from the cans of mushrooms and clams) the idea is to let all of the flavors boil together as the liquid boils off and allows the flavors to be infused in the mushrooms and clams.
3. Once all is combined, turn the burner on high and set the timer for 11 minutes (this is for an electric stove top times may vary for gas stove tops)
4. Allow the mushroom mixture to boil, stirring often.
5. Once most of the liquid has boiled off either top off your noodles or set aside until the noodles are done.

Gingerbread Cheesecake

Ok!  So over the holiday season my sister and I went on a cheesecake-making frenzy.  We made one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.  My favorite of the two was definitely the Gingerbread Cheesecake :) It was actually taken from a Martha Stewart (*shrug*) recipe I'd discovered one day while trying to find some recipes befitting the season. 

Gingerbread Cheesecake Recipe:

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour, for dusting
2 cups Ginger-Snap cookie crumbs 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

6 gingerbread men (see above)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap exterior of a 9-inch springform pan in 2 layers of foil.
2. In a blender, grind up enough ginger snap cookies to make 2 cups of crumbs. 
3. Combine butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 cups cookie crumbs in a bowl. Press mixture firmly and evenly into bottom and one-third of the way up sides of prepared pan. 
4. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Let cool on rack.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. 
6. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and the vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. 
7. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping sides of bowl as needed. 
8. Beat in molasses, salt, spices, and lemon zest. Pour filling into cooled crust.
9. Place cheesecake in a large, shallow roasting pan. Transfer to oven, and carefully add enough hot water to roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of springform pan. (This keeps the cake from cracking when it bakes.) 
10. Bake until cheesecake is set but still slightly wobbly in center, 60 to 80 minutes.
11. Carefully remove springform pan from roasting pan, and let cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 8 hours (preferably overnight).
12. Before serving, run a hot knife around edges of cheesecake to loosen, and remove sides of pan. Arrange gingerbread cookies in center of cake in a circle (with heads facing inward and arms touching, alternating light and dark).


Now for my own (and my sisters) personal touch to the cheesecake we made a Dark Chocolate Ganache to top it off.  The ganache cooled hardened and I want to find a way to make it not do that... but it turned out fantastic anyway!  We didn't take precise measurements either while making this cause we were just making it up by the seat of our pants.  But these are the ingredients.

Dark Chocolate Chips
Hazelnut Creamer (in place of whipping cream)
small amounts of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves. 
Molasses

In a double broiler (or just fill up a tall-sided skillet with hot water and a smaller sauce pan with the chocolate chips) allow the chocolate chips to melt do not let the top pan to just rest in the bottom pan or the chocolate could burn.  As the chocolate is melting, add your creamer (or whipping cream), spices, and molasses.  Mix well until smooth and then add to the top of the completed (and cooled) cheesecake.  

We also took some extra ginger snap crumbs and sifted them onto the top of the ganache. 

Additional notes from my sister, Stacy: 
This cheesecake was a very different texture than any other cheesecake I’ve ever eaten. It was more of a mouse consistency than dense cheesecake. A friend of mine mentioned that this could have been because the recipe did not call for any thickening agents such as flour or corn starch. If I were to make this recipe again, I would try adding a couple tablespoons of corn starch to the filling. Additionally, the original recipe required making gingerbread cookies from scratch, baking them, and crushing them for the crust. Instead, we put store-bought ginger cookies into a food processor for time and ease.

Starting out/Amish Friendship Cinnamon Bread

Ok I've been ridiculously into cooking/baking recently.  It's just something I very much enjoy doing and I've been wanting a place to keep track of all the stuff I make and notes and a place to share with others the things I've been making (other than just my friends who will probably be eating most of what I make anyway).  This has been my passion for a few years and actually not something I've given up on (which is a downfall of mine).   So I've been recently pinning a lot of recipes I'd LIKE to make and now I'm going to work my way through them and talk about what I did differently or what I'd like to do differently in the future etc.  I'll probably also be talking about recipes I love to make a lot and have perfected over a couple of years :)

My Pinterest

A year or two ago, my coworker brought in a whole bunch of starters for something called Amish Friendship Bread. I tried it out and fell in love!  I was unfortunately only able to make it a few times before deciding it was making too many starters and therefore creating too much waste. At the time though I didn't think about fixing the recipe to only make one extra starter (to keep for use in another 10 days or to put in the freezer or fridge to use at another time) and seeing as it makes 2 loaves every 10 days... that's a lot of very sugary bread to be eating/giving away all the time.   So I've come up with a remedied recipe.  I have yet to try it out and see if it works the same though I'll update it in 10 days.  However here is the recipe.

Amish Friendship Cinnamon Bread Starter:
Ingredients:
1 (.25 oz) package of active dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water
1 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 c. White Sugar
1 c. Milk

Instructions:

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 1 gal Ziploc bag, combine 1 cup flour and
1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave at room temperature.



Amish Friendship Cinnamon Bread Instructions:


Please note the following: Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl. Do not refrigerate(while it's fermenting). If air gets into the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise and ferment.

Day 1: Do nothing, this is the day you receive the batter. The bag is dated.
Day 2: Mash the bag
Day 3: Mash the bag
Day 4: Mash the bag
Day 5: Mash the bag
Day 6: Mash the bag (unless you want to make 2 extra starters to give away in which case add 1c ea. of flour, milk, sugar)
Day 7: Mash the bag
Day 8: Mash the bag
Day 9: Mash the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below:

1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a Non Metal Bowl.
2. Add 1/2 C. flour, 1/2 C. of sugar, 1/2 C. of milk (unless you're making the 2 extra then add 1 c. ea)
3. Measure out 1 (or 3) separate batters (1 cup each) into 1 (or 3) Ziplock (1 gallon bags).
Note: If you keep a starter for yourself you will be baking every 10 days.

Edit: Just read a review saying they only added 1/4 cup of each ingredient on the 10th day.  I'm going to try that and see how it works instead of the 1/2.

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. To the remaining batter in the bowl add:
3 eggs
1 cup of oil
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp. of cinnamon
2 tsp. of vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of baking soda
1 tsp. of salt
2 cups of flour
2 small boxes of pudding (optional)
1 cup of raisins, dried fruit or chocolate chips (optional)

In separate bowl, mix 1 t. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar. Sprinkle into well-greased loaf pans and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Do not use Pam or other non-stick spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until done.




Notes:

First, the bit about not using a metal bowl or spoon? Silly. I would avoid old aluminum utensils but for the most part it's just a myth.

Second, it is NOT necessary to follow these steps precisely. If you forget to do anything with your starter for
a week, don’t toss it out. If you WANT to delay making the bread up, stick the starter in the fridge.
It will last MONTHS in a good, cold fridge. If it turns pink, it’s spoiled and THEN you should throw it out.

Third, Pam spray works just fine for greasing the loaf pans. Maybe forbidding Pam spray is supposed to make this sound more Amish, but I MUCH prefer the texture that the Pam and the sugar makes on the crust.

Although my paper doesn’t say this explicitly, I have read many different places that only the Amish know how to make the starter and it’s a deep dark secret. But that is also myth. I have no idea if this recipe started
in the Amish community, but there is nothing magical about the starter.

One thing that is NOT a myth is this. You MUST use boxes of Instant pudding. Cooked pudding mixes gives an entirely different and entirely unacceptable texture to this bread. (honestly though years ago when I made this recipe it did not call for pudding. So I'm interested to see how it'll turn out!)

Enjoy! And pass this on to others! :)