Tormented Kitchen

Lately I have been completely in love with the matcha powder I bought. I have heard of matcha cakes and matcha frosting before and was compelled to try something. I figured buttercream icing is one of the easiest things to customize, so I decided to toss some matcha in and give it a try. WOW! It was so good! Not too sweet and the hint of tea made it kind of refreshing compared to typical vanilla frosting. I tweaked the cake recipe too. I wanted to use melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder to be different. I've made lots of cakes with cocoa powder and this one was just tasty, I think texture was better, more moist and smooth. The color wasn't as deep, the flavor a tad lighter, but it was it was still unmistakably chocoate. Together, the cake and frosting were quite tasty, plenty rich and decadent without really looking that indulgent. I think people are used to seeing something nearly black and equating the color with chocolate richness. That is something I wanted to di...

Yum, just had these last night and my tummy is happy. My folks are visiting. Justin is away dealing with his uncle's estate, so I'm looking to fix things Justin doesn't like. He's not big on bell peppers, and this is a great time to have them. My grandmother Katherine used to make stuffed peppers using green bell peppers. I happen to prefer orange or red peppers. You can use green if you like, or even purple if you happen to grow those. If you like, this recipe translates well into Cabbage Rolls. See the note below for details. Ingredients 2 lbs hamburger 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 baggie of 10-Minute Boil-in-Bag rice, not boiled 2 eggs 3 medium bell peppers (I like red or orange) 2 c. water 4 T heaping brown sugar 2 cans condensed tomato soup 2 small cans V-8 1 15-oz. can tomato sauce pepper & salt to taste Method 1. Mix V-8, water, tomato soup, tomato sauce, and brown sugar in a saucepan. Simmer until warm and thickened. 2. Combine ri...

I frequently go to Starbucks, not for coffee, but for their tea lattes. After much searching and testing, I have found an excellent clone that is super easy to make at home. First, you need Matcha. This is green tea powder that looks a lot like vibrant green cocoa powder. I have trouble finding this at local stores, so I ordered some off the internet. Second, you need milk or a milk-substitute. Third, and this is the trick to duplicate a Starbucks latte, is vanilla syrup. It's pretty easy to find this nowadays on the coffee aisle. I like Da Vinci syrups. Easy, huh? I like to add a little extra sugar to mine, usually a teaspoon of turbinado sugar is enough. Try it! Ingredients 2 teaspoons Matcha powder (you can halve this if you like it milder) 4 cups milk or milk-substitute 4 Tablespoons Vanilla Syrup sugar, to taste Method 1. I have a very interesting machine called a Cocoa-Latte Hot-Drink Maker. I put everything in it and turn it on. When it turns o...

Frog's Eye Salad. Doesn't that name just sound gross? It sounds kind of like Halloween food to me. When I look at this in a bowl, I think it should have a nice name. Maybe I will just call it something else. Maybe I will just call it ambrosia or picnic fruit salad. Or I will make up something odd like "insalata con acini de frutta" which really means nothing in Italian. I like making up words. How about Fru-cini? Prounounced Froo-cheenee. What about Fru-cina-lata (froo-cheena-laa-tah)? This dish uses a tiny shaped pasta called Acini de pepe . They are just little balls of pasta. For anyone unfamiliar with the pronunciation of Acini de pepe , the correct way to say it is "ah-chee-knee duh pay-pay". Wow, I didn't realize I was going to be giving Italian language lessons on a food blog. Go me! Anyhow, I gleaned this gem of a recipe from my dear hubby's stepmom. It makes a lot of food. This fills a very large mixing bowl, and it's fairly ...

When the carnivore comes out, sometimes you just need a good hunk of beef. To quiet the beast within, I usually go for a steak, a fat and juicy hamburger, or a roast. We've tried lots of different techniques for cooking, like long and slow, or even in the rotisserie, but for just a good "get 'er done" roast, this recipe is it. One thing I can't stress enough is using good meat. How do you know good meat from bad meat? If you can get your roast from a reputable butcher, it will be good. If it comes from Wal-Mart, it will probably be tough. Fork out the extra couple bucks for a fresh roast. Don't bother buying the one on sale that's turned a bit brown. It will be stinky to eat. As for the roast's preparation, it's so nice to have the butcher trim the rib bones off, then tie them back on. One local shop here (that recently went out of business) used to sell roasts with an extra layer of fat wrapped around the outside and seasoned between the la...

This recipe goes way back. I tweaked and tweaked back when I was in college to come up this. I even did a class presentation on this recipe for one of my engineering classes, using slides on a slide projector, showing my scientific process determining how different types of fat affect the crispiness/softness/chewyness of cookies. I determined that Parkay yielded the softest cookies compared to other brands of margarine. Butter yielded a crisper cookie. (Parkay cookies stayed softer after the cookies had cooled than butter cookies. Thank you trans fats, you rascals). Scientifically speaking, I made probably 10 batches of cookies so I definitely had a fair amount of data to work with. Now as deliciousness is concerned, even the type of oats impacts the texture of the cookie. For this batch, I used Quaker Old Fashioned Oats. They are whole. They add a more chewy, oaty-nuttiness than Quick Oats. It's up to you what you like better. Both are yummy. Ingredients 1 cup margarine...

This is one of my favorite dishes. It's super easy. Of course, using good basil is key to making this pesto. You may omit the parsley if you don't like it. I do. I think it adds a nice freshness that compliments the basil. I recommend this dish for pot-luck parties and picnics because you could keep the crab out separately (in the cooler) and add it to the pasta right before serving, if keeping the whole bowl cool is an issue. I could envision cooking the garlic first to reduce its pungency. I would probably mince it and sautee in the olive oil 1-2 minutes before adding it to the processor. Ingredients 2 cups basil leaves, large stems removed 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, large stems removed 1 clove garlic, peeled 3 Tablespoons pine nuts 3 oz. real Parmesan cheese, from a wedge or block, *NOT KRAFT* 1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil 12 oz crab, imitation or real if available 8 oz tri-color rotini salt to taste Method 1. Boil rotini according to package instructions....