Tormented Kitchen

Hello, dear readers. Happy holidays! I think Christmas time is my favorite holiday. It's a time of giving and generosity. It's a time for family and traditions. We've put up a smaller tree this year, decorated the house with all of the collected nutcrackers, and started cooking up the old-time favorite recipes. We even sent a Secret Santa gift to an elderly gentleman at a nearby retirement home. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I've been cooking a lot of unhealthy but delicious things.  These things are irresistible and should only be eaten in small quantities because they make you pack on that dreaded "winter weight." But that is what New Year's resolutions are for! I've been making these marbled cake bars for years and they never had an official name.  I've snooped and found out that others call them Can't Leave Them Alone Bars. That name really has no staying power in my memory banks, so I'm ju...

Hello again, dear readers. It's almost summertime here in Nevada. You can basically say we had our one week of Springtime weather, so it might as well be called Summer already. We just had Memorial Day. The waterparks are open for business. People are out fishing and camping. It's time for every scout's favorite campfire treat. S'MORES!!!! I'm sure most people are familiar with the original s'more.  If you've seen the latest Hershey TV ad, then you've seen Hershey's chocolate teamed with Jet-Puft marshmallows and Honey-Maid graham crackers. Now, those are good, BUT I can up the ante. I can IMPROVE THEM!!! What you need is to think outside the s'more. You need to evolve the s'more, layer by delicious layer. You must know by now that is not health food. It's a devilish delicious treat. Let's start with the cracker. You can stick to graham crackers if you like. I picked up a box of Honey Grahams at Trader Joe's, as well...

The other night, we were hungry for cake. Being the cake lover that I am, I got busy and whipped up a chocolate cake.  I have to say it can be difficult to get cakes to rise properly at high altitude. Normally they sink in the center and stay sort of gooey, unless you cook them longer and then the edges get dried out. This cake is by far the BEST chocolate cake recipe EVER. I'm not kidding! It tastes great, really chocolate-y, good texture, moist, and it didn't sink in the middle or cook unevenly. These pictures are of a slice cut from the absolute center of the cake. See how perfect it is? This is unbelievable! This is not my first time with a mayo cake. It was pretty common back in Oklahoma. Maybe it's one of those regional food things because my hubby thought I was crazy for using mayonnaise in cake. I asked him if he ever had sour cream chocolate cake. Of course not, but he wasn't grossed out. So I proved that even though it sounds funny at first, it tastes...

Easter time has come and gone yet again. Now, let me tell you something. Usually, I attempt to give up something for Lent, and fail miserably 3 days later. I gave up chocolate for Lent this year. This is not the first time that I've tried to give up chocolate, but it was the most successful time! I was really trying to eat healthier. There was one birthday party with marble cake that I could not resist. For the most part, I was very focused on what healthy things I could eat instead of chocolate. That sort of impaired my inspiration to cook and blog about food.  Now that I've survived the month+ without chocolate, I've managed to put together a few thoughts. 1. I am a chocoholic. 2. I don't have to eat all chocolate all the time. 3. I should only eat the really good chocolate in small quantities. 4. Chocolate will put me into a tailspin of eating. No Chocolate means I'm in better control of what I eat later in the day. 5. I really do like fruits and veggies, b...

There is restaurant on Virginia Street that my hubby and I eat lunch at often.  Michael's Deli, if you are curious. They have fantastic salads and darn good gyros, too.  One of my favorite things they make is a peanut butter filled chocolate cookie. They only have them certain days of the week, so I don't always get them. After eating those cookies, and always wanting more, I had to make some at home this weekend.  I told my student employees my plans. They begged for me to bring some cookies to work. Unfortunately for them, the cookies didn't make it to the office. They were so good, I just couldn't bring myself to share! Ingredients 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder  1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter ...

This weekend, I was hungry for something sweet. Not too long ago, we had dinner at Campo which was finished off by their dessert sampler. We got a tiny Mason jar of panna cotta topped with berries, a tiny slice of chocolate cheesecake, and another tiny Mason jar of salted caramel budino. I have been thinking of the panna cotta and budino ever since.  Budino is Italian for pudding. I did some Internet research and happened upon a recipe that I decided to give it a try. My littlest helper was happy to smash cookies, mix them with melted butter and spoon it into cups. I took care of all the hot stuff over the stove, like making the two separate batches of caramel, one to flavor the budino and another to pour over top of the completed product. It was a bit time consuming. I've never spent so much time making pudding before. I had to separate my eggs, mix milk and cornstarch, temper the yolks with the hot milk, them mix, mix, mix and cook some more. Then it went th...

 I have been meaning to do up this post on chocolate dipped strawberries since early February. Well, time has not been on my side lately. So I'm too late for Valentine's Day, but just in time for Mother's Day. Well, Mother's Day in the US.  Not so sure when that falls in other countries. Men and inexperienced cooks take note. This recipe is so easy, even you can do it! It's impressive, but always has an impact, even if the chocolate isn't perfect. You don't have to use strawberries either. You could actually dip anything you like in melted chocolate. Cookies. Pretzels. Potato chips. Just keep in mind the typical shelf life or refrigerator storage lifespan of the item you are dipping. For berries, they are good for about 3 days. I'd even go for a banana, but you'd have to eat it right away so it didn't turn brown. And apparently my sister and bro-in-law grill bacon and cover it in chocolate.  So get creative! Ingredients 1 1-lb pac...