Tag Archives: flour

Ragin Cajun

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My roomie is from Louisiana so I have these moments in which I just want to sit down with a mason jar of sweet tea and eat some good old finger licking Cajun food. Now I would never dare attempt to make some crawfish or authentic creole cooking, but I wanted to do a quick weeknight homage to a girl from Houma, LA.

P/S I hate okra, but would love a kick a$$ gumbo or jambalaya recipe if any of you NOLA girls would like to hook a Philly girl up. Send to damndelish@gmail.com and the winner will get posted on the blog and will also be eligible to win a groceries tote!

  • 1/3 cup of half and half (original calls for heavy cream but its healthier this way)
  • 1-2 tbsp. butter (ok seems like a lot but, its delish!)
  • 1 tbsp. flour
  • 1 tbsp. Cajun seasoning
  • 2 tsp. of smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp. of cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp. of crushed garlic
  • 1 tsp. of dried parsley flakes
  • 1 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup of chicken broth (again do the healthier option-low sodium)

On medium to high heat in a non-stick sauté pan create a roux (fancy French word alert: butter & flour mixture). That will be the base and thickening agent for your sauce. Slowly add in the garlic and spices. Once dissolved in the roux, add the liquids (both the half & half, as well as, the chicken broth). Stir the liquids to combine with the roux. Lower heat and toss in diced chicken or shrimp (cooking times will vary but any protein of choice will work. I did 1lb. of shrimp for 2 people) Now add the lemon juice and parsley flakes. Continue stirring, if the sauce is too thin add more roux (make another flour/butter combo). However, once completely mixed & you lower the heat, it should be fairly creamy and not watery. I served over cappellini noodles, but this would be very good over some dirty rice. Oh and I sprinkled with some chopped green onion for a traditional touch!

Check out our Instagram for the yummy creation!

Happy Eating, XO.

Muffin Mania Part II

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My ex bf used to call me the “muffin man”, I know, how sexy! LOL but seriously, I just love making muffins. I think they are so easy and filling. They can be used as breakfast, a snack, or dessert (dollop anything with whipped cream child and its a dessert!) Anyway, to impress him early on when we were dating I made my scrumptious pumpkin muffins, and you know I just tossed my leftover veggies in some muffins just last week. So clearly, there is no stopping me on my muffin mania rampage. I realized I needed to do something more traditional and since its still summer and the berries are in abundance, I wanted to do a mixed berry muffin. Watch out Dunkin Donuts low fat blueberry, you may now be my 2nd favorite. Hope you love these as much as I did!

  • 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar (honey works as well)
  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature (original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I don’t have that stuff on hand so I just used the 1% I had in my fridge for cereal).
  • ½ cup canola oil (don’t skip the oil, this will make the muffins moist, you could use melted butter, but this muffin is better w the oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (340g) mixed berries**
  • coarse sugar for sprinkling on top if you wanna really be like Dunkin Donuts.

In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until all dry ingredients are combined – a 20 second toss to disburse everything together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined. Whisk in milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be pale and yellow. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand. Avoid over-mixing which will make for tough, dense muffins. Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain. The batter will be extremely thick and somewhat lumpy. Very gently to avoid them from leaking their color, fold in 1 and 3/4 cups mixed berries. ** For a little culinary twist I like to add some citrus zest or peel to the muffins. Lemon tends to be a good tart compliment to blueberries and orange works well with the raspberries and strawberries. You pick which one or both you want and throw in a tsp. if you feel so bold.** Then, spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top. Using 1/4 cup of the berries you have leftover, press a few into the tops of each muffin. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if you fancy. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes and let cool before serving.

Happy Eating, XO.

Muffin Mania Part I

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OK so sometimes I buy way too many veggies in attempt to eat healthier. Now we are at that moment in which they will go bad if not consumed soon and I just cant finish all of this myself. So, juicing is usually a good fallback option however I sold my juicer in attempt to buy a new pair of shoes, so there’s that. Good old Pinterest to the rescue. I searched for a recipe that would use ingredients I already had in my pantry/kitchen. What a yummy way to eat my veggies and a resolution to my overabundance problem!

  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour (I used all purpose because that’s all I had lying around)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (I forgot this, that’s what rushing to take photos does, don’t forget it, seems to be the element that adds a certain richness)
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup (I would also add a tbsp. of sugar because I don’t think they were sweet enough)
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup grated zucchini
  • 1 cup grated carrot (original calls for 1/2 cup but I think it needs 1, came out too doughy)
  • Original recipe had raisins and nuts (walnuts or pecans would work best), I left out but its a good idea to add some more oompf to the muffins.
Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in the center of the oven, and coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the butter, maple syrup (& sugar), egg, and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir together until just barely combined. Add the zucchini, carrot, and stir gently until just distributed. Fill each cup in the mini muffin pan approximately ¾ full (my tins were only half full) Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
photo
Happy Eating, XO

Aloo tiki

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Aloo tiki or potato cutlet is a North Indian snack made of boiled potatoes and various spices. “Aloo” means potato, and the word “tikki” means a small cutlet or croquette. It is found in almost every chaat shop or stall in Delhi, as well as, in other parts of India. It is served hot along with, tamarind and coriander-mint chutney (sauce), known as Hari (green) chutney. I decided I need to learn how to make these after my best friend had a craving for them over the weekend and asked my mom to make us some. They are fairly simple to make and very filling. They are excellent to serve as an afternoon snack with tea or with drinks as an appetizer. Next time we have a craving, we won’t need to run home for them…yum!

  • 3 medium size potatoes
  • 1 small onion- finely chopped or a half of a medium
  • 1 green chili- finely chopped (remove seeds when chopping to minimize heat if you are worried about spice level)
  • 1 tsp. cumin powder
  • 1 tsp. coriander powder
  • 1 tsp. fennel powder (I didn’t have any so I left out, you won’t die if it isn’t in there)
  • ½ tsp. red chili powder
  • ¼ tsp. dry ginger powder (I also added garlic powder in place of the fennel, mainly because I can’t eat most food without some sort of garlicky goodness)
  • ½ tsp. chaat masala powder (MDG is my fav brand, but there are tons of kinds out there & easy to find)
  • 2 tbsp. flour or corn starch (you cant skip this, it helps bind them and give them a crust, they will fall apart without it)
  • handful of fresh coriander leaves chopped (AKA cilantro. If you don’t like the flavor of cilantro, fresh parsley works as well)
  • oil for pan or shallow frying (vegetable is best since olive oil has a stronger flavor)
  • salt (I also added a pinch of black pepper)

Boil the peeled potatoes and after they are cooled a bit, using a grater to grate them. You can even use a potato masher instead of grating to save time. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Divide the mixture into equal portions and shape each portion into a round, flat tikki. (Pack them tightly so they don’t fall apart in the pan) Heat a non-stick pan on a medium to high flame and cook each tikki, using oil generously: think shallow fry, till both sides are golden brown. (you will be tempted to mess with them but let each side firm up & get browned, flip gently). Drain on an absorbent paper towel to catch any excess oil and serve hot. This is the Indian version of our latkes. It tastes like nostalgia/home.

Happy Eating, XO.

I <3 You, Cupcakes

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It’s no secret by now – I love food, and I especially love baking. So it’s only right this Valentine’s Day I bake some yummy cupcakes! Some people go for chocolate covered strawberries, I go for chocolate on chocolate cupcakes. #NoShame. I bought a chocolate mold a few years ago just for the hell of it (shout out to Michael’s!), and as it turns out it makes perfect little hearts for cupcake toppers!

Chocolate Heart Toppers

  • 1 cup melted white chocolate
  • 2-3 drops of red food coloring (add more or less depending on the color you want)

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1⁄4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet chocolate pudding powder (I replaced this with unsweetened cocoa powder bc, let’s be real, you’ll never use unsweetened cocoa for anything after this recipe.)
  • 1⁄8 tsp salt
  • 6 Tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 1⁄2 cup white sugar
  • 2 egg
  • 3⁄4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk

Icing

  • Pillsbury’s frosting in a can = no mess and just as good

Start on the chocolate hearts about an hour before hand so they have time to harden. Melt the white chocolate slowly in a sauce pan. Once it’s liquidy, add in the food coloring. (If it starts to score/harden after it’s already melted add a tiny bit of water to it and it will smooth right out again.) Pour in to the mold and stick in the freezer.

For the cupcakes, do the usual prep work: preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the muffin pan with cupcake liners. Then sift together all of the flour, baking powder & soda, chocolate pudding powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Follow up with the eggs and vanilla. Then slowly add in the flour mixture and milk until completely combined. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Valentine's Day cupcake

Happy Eating (and Valentines Day!), XO