Fall Time!

     It's that time of year again! Time to bake everything. The temperatures are finally cooling down so I can justify kicking the oven on all day. My personal favorite? Bread. Take a basic recipe and jazz it up. You can go so many different ways with this one.


1 packet of instant yeast.
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk (warmed)
Tablespoon of butter
Tablespoon of sugar
Flour (roughly 4 cups +)


     If you have a bread machine, good for you, toss it all in the machine and let her go. (I have no idea how these work, so use your best personal judgement) For anyone else, this is super easy so don't worry too much. Mix your yeast and sugar in a bowl with the warmed water and milk. Let that sit until it gets a bit foamy. The add in your butter. I normally add in my flour 1/2 cup at a time (this is why it is such a rough number!). Mix it thoroughly between each addition. Once the dough mostly stops sticking, get in there with your hands (or a bread hook on a stand mixer). Kneed and add flour until the dough stops sticking.

     When I am rising the dough, I make sure to get a shallow pan of water in my oven, preheat it, then shut if off while I make the dough. You want it warm, not hot or you will cook your bread too soon. Put it in a greased pan, let it rise one hour. After that kneed it a few times, then pop it back in. (reheat your oven if it's cold.) Wait another hour, your dough will double. Then turn the oven to about 350 and bake for about 45 minutes. You will know for sure your bread is done when it's golden, and when you tap it, it will sound hallow. Put some butter on that and it's amazing hot.

Extra things you can add into it:

Nuts and or fruit. Both bake wonderfully.
Cinnamon is another good addition to a nice hot loaf.
Get creative and try new things! Don't be scared to mess it up!

~Skadia, the break kneading panther.

Restaurant Review - Furious Spoon

What is Furious Spoon? Well you might be asking this right now, so how about a little background. Furious Spoon has two locations in Chicago, we were at the one in Logan Square. It's slogan is "Where Ramen meets Hip Hop" It's a ramen shop with what seemed like a full bar as well as other side dishes.

The atmosphere was different. All of the staff was very friendly. The lighting is very dim, so much so it gives almost a club or bar feel to the place. The seating is mostly outside, otherwise inside has heavy wooden bench seating. There was art all over the walls that gave the place a really neat feel to it. Not kid friendly. They play loud music hip hop with full language.

Now that I have you interested in maybe heading over there, let me give you all the juicy details about the menu. Their way of doing things is a little different than you would expect. It's a lot more fun. You place your order up front and they give you a number to go sit down where you like. From there they make your food fresh. The noodles are house made! Their selection is small, noodle bowls, rice bowls, and other sides. The toppings for your ramen however, is where the gold is. They have different varieties and then you can mix in anything else you want into your bowl to make it your own. Really nice for going with groups of people.

The meal we ate was generally simple, no crazy special orders. I tried to basic Vegetable bowl. My partner tried the Furious bowl with pork. My friends who dined with us had another pork bowl with bamboo shoots in it, and his wife had a chicken bowl. No sides, they also do not offer normal drinks. Free water or bar drinks are all they offer. That was kinda a let down.

Let's talk about staff now. They are a major part of the restaurant so lets give them their spot light. They were very friendly and were happy to help, but also they were not very much around. As an american I am used to staff checking up on me through the meal. They do not do this here and it can be a pain to flag someone down. Again, all very nice and asking for to-go cups they happily supplied them.

Now for the real thing on everyone's mind. Well how much is this going to cost? This is where you'll be happy. This place was very reasonable for Chicago, and for how much food you got. It wasn't a normal size bowl, I'd say around the 20 ounce size. Anyway, there was a lot of food. Mine and my partner's cost under $20 for the two of us. Not the best food we have had, but it was very good for the price. Heaven's know I have spent more at worse places.

My overall opinion for this visit was indifferent. The food was lack luster, but at a good price. The music was good and the atmosphere was neat. Go try it for yourself for sure, because we all have different tastes. If I do go back, I will happily try something else like one of their rice bowls and see how that is.

Rating:

Staff: 3/5 They were friendly but not very helpful overall.
Food and Presentation: 2/5 It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't good.
Ambiance and Decor: 5/5 Very different.
Quality of Service: 1/5 There really wasn't any service. They brought out the food when it was done and went right back to the kitchen. One of my friends waited almost 20 minutes for her food to even arive and not once did they say anything.
Favorite menu item: Vegetable Ramen
Kid Friendly: No
Vegetarian Friendly: No, I do not believe the broth is vegetarian friendly, but do call, they would know more.
Overall Rating: 3/5

Not overall excited about this place, but I would be willing to go again at some point.

Cooking for a Party

     Alright, summer is over and the holiday season is just around the corner. Trust me, it's going to come up a lot faster than any of us want it to. There will be family and friends, good stories and wonderful times. However, that also means there's going to be lots of dinners, and with so many people that can be hard.

     Not everyone is on a special diet, but I'm fairly sure most are to some extent. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. So when it comes to party food, it's always so hard to figure out just what to make. Here are a few tips and ideas I have compiled for you to start the season off right.

     Make a small something for everyone. Now by that I don't mean make everyone a small roast chicken for themselves. What I am getting at with this is simply make one dish that suits each group. For example. You generally have normal people who eat just about everything. So a basic ham dinner would do them just fine, or some pork chops or even a small roast. Then you worry about people who don't eat red meat, so have some bird or fish as another option. Vegetarians and vegans can prove to be harder, but just small steps taken will for sure make them feel more welcome.


A basic meal plan and what it costs. I'm going to plan this party for roughly ten people.

     Pork Chops: A family pack of 6-8 would do just fine. (remember not everyone's first choice will be a chop!) Roughly $10. More or less depending on your area.

     A Whole Chicken or a Turkey breast. Both can vary but you can normally find a whole "frying" chicken for about $5-$7. Here again, shred that all up and it will go quite a long ways.

     Lasagna. This normally has meat in it, but it's very easy to replace the meat with spinach and make it the same way. Great for Vegetarians, or people looking for something a little lighter. Pasta and spinach are generally pretty cheep. $1.50 for pasta, another $2 for a large thing of spinach and then just add cheese and sauce. A whole pan could feed upwards of 12-15 people easily.

     Side salad with all the toppings on the side. Super simple, you can even buy bagged premade salad.Great for any other picky eaters and a wonderful side to most of the other dishes above.

So to feed those ten people, and have enough for plenty of leftovers, you are looking at roughly a $50 meal. That's not bad at all for the holiday season. Add in a few extra sides like potatoes or stuffing and it will go even farther.

     A great thing to do when inviting people is to ask if they have allergies or any other dietary needs. Even if you can't hit every need, you can have a small something for everyone.

~Skadia, the holiday prepping panther.

I might go Vegan?

More than likely not because let's face it, I love meat. But! I will say this video really had some good recipies at really nice prices! Check it out.

Top 5 Sites to Find Good Recipes

     If you are anything like me, you are ALWAYS looking for something new to try, even if you never make it. You are always looking. I get odd ideas in the middle of the night and some days I just don't feel like dragging out all of my cook books. There have of course been times when my partners will come out at 3 A.M. and find me on the living room floor surrounded by half a dozen open cook books, but not every time. Here are some of my personal favorite places to find some good recipes.


1. http://www.foodnetwork.com/

     Tried and true most of the things you will find on this one have been tested time and again. They might not have everything, but I'm sure something there will interest you.

2. http://allrecipes.com/

     A personal favorite because there are many review on most things, with some good advice about the recipe.

3. http://www.myrecipes.com/

     A database built from many magazines. Their category system is also pretty nice.

4. http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes

     With a super cool feature that lets you search by ingredient, this one can sure come in handy.

5. http://www.popsugar.com/Recipes

     This one is newer to me, however they do have some Paleo things, as well as some other interesting stuff.


     What are some sites you use most? Let me know, I'm always looking for new places to find good food.