Fried Won Tons have been a Christmas Eve tradition for as long as I can remember. My family always had a party that evening. I would spend hours chopping and wrapping while watching the Grinch. No one would help, everyone complained I was making too many, all would get eaten. It would take multiple trips to the store (by my father). There are never enough wrappers. There was a recipe at one point but its not fussy.

• ground pork
• canned shrimp
• bok choy
• water chesnuts
• egg
• soy sauce
• freshly grated ginger
• green onions
• wonton wrappers

• 3 ½ Cup Flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 ¼ Cups Water

For the Boiling Pot:

• 4 Cups Water
• 1/3 C Baking Soda or ¼ Cup Salt

Combine the water, sugar, and yeast in your mixing bowl and allow yeast to proof for about 2 minutes. Add one cup of flour and mix. Add your salt and the remaining flour to pull the dough into a ball. Place the dough into a greased bowl and allow to double in size.

Once the dough has doubled in size, deflate the dough and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes on a lightly flowered surface. Cut into 8 or 12 equal pieces and allow dough to rest for about 10 more minutes. (They are fluffier if you let them double again) Shape the dough pieces into bagel shapes by either rolling them into ropes and shaping into a circle or pushing your finger through the middle of the ball and shaping it that way. Cover your shaped bagels and let them proof for about 30 minutes.

Pre heat your over to 400 degrees. Bring your water and choice of additive to a boil and drop each bagel into the boiling solution on e at a time. Boil one minute on each side and be sure not to crowd them. Remove the boiled bagel and place it on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bagels are nicely browned. Remove, spray with a bit of water if you want a shinier crust, and cool on a wire rack.

Variation:

• 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour,
• 1 Cup White Flour
• ½ C Honey

Had my mentee over for a day of cooking and kittens. We went the Cat Adoption Team and then back to my house for baking bagels and cupcakes. My Mom’s Mom was from the Bay Area and not particularly domestic this is one recipe I have from here and its better than any you can buy.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes
From Leisa’s Grandmother, Margret Krey
Made by Jaemi & Leisa on November 8, 2008

Cream Cheese Mixture:

• One 8 oz Packet of Cream Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/8 Teaspoon Salt (Pinch)
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Cream together softened cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and salt. Beat together until smooth. Sir in chocolate chips by hand. Set aside.

Cake Mixture:

• 2/3 Cups Vegetable Oil
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 14 C Cocoa
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 3 Cups Flour
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Teaspoons Vinegar

Beat oil, sugar and egg. Add dry ingredients alternatively with vinegar/water mixture. Mix until creamy.

Fill 2/3 full with cake mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Source: Albers Yellow Cornmeal bag

• 1 cup yellow or white corn meal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (or prefer melted butter.)
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup milk

combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine oil, egg and milk in small bowl and mix.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stir until *just* blended. Pour into greased 8″ pan.

Bake in preheated 400 deg f. oven for 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Makes one 10-inch tube cake

4 cups peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped tart cooking apples (about 4 or 5 medium apples)
1/3 C (packed light) brown sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 Cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
grated zests of 1 orange
4 large eggs
1 C vegetable oil
½ c fresh or frozen orange juice

1. preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan, bundt pan or kugehlofmold. In a small bowl, combine the apples with the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest. In a large bowl using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat the eggs and oil until thick and creamy, about 2 minutes at high speed. Add the dry ingredients with the orange juice and beat just until moistened, but thoroughly blended. Do not over mix, but there should be no lumps or dry spots.
3. spoon one third of the batter into the pan. Cover evenly with half the apple mixture and cover with another one third of the batter. Use a spatula to smooth the batter over the apples to cover completely. Repeat with the remaining apples and batter depending with a smooth layer of batter.
4. Place the pan on a rack in the center of the oven and bake 60 min. Cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil and bake 15 minutes more, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack about 1 hour. Invert onto a rack to cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough (see Recipe)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Romano Cheese
• Garlic (I mixed with olive oil on crust)
• Artichoke Hearts
• Fresh Cracked Pepper
• Green Onion

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough (see Recipe)
  
• BBQ Sauce (see Recipe)
• Pepper Jack (Grated)
  
• Grilled Chicken (Sliced)
• Jalapenos (Sliced)

Garnish

• Iceberg (Shredded)
• Chipotle Ranch Dressing (mix with lettuce while pizza cooks)

Assemble Pizza

Spread BBQ Sauce on Crust. Place Shredded cheese on Pizza. Arrange Chicken & Jalapenos on Pizza.

Cook for 6 min in 450 degrees Oven. Allow to cool a bit before slicing. Place on Plate. Top with Lettuce that has been mixed with the dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 lbs bread flour
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 & 3/4 Cups Warm Water

Take 1/2 cup of water, sugar, and yeast. Put in a small bowl. Set in a warm place for 5 minutes to proof.

Place the yeast mixture, water & oil in the mixer bowl. Run on the slowest setting. Mix until incorporated. Add the flour to the bowl and mix for 1 min. Add the salt and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide into 4 pieces and ball up. Lightly oil the dough balls and cover. Let proof until doubled in size.

Here is the crust with too much olive oil on top. Cornmeal on peel. Its ready for the BBQ Sauce.

I took a pizza class at Whole Foods on Tuesday. My hopes is that by taking cooking classes I will be more intersted in meal prep. Chef Phil had a really strange way of ‘rolling’ out the pizza. I’ll try to capture it next time. Unsurprisingly I wasn’t wild about item #2 but the rest were amazing. The BBQ chicken pizza was a big winner so here it goes first.

The Menu

• Gravalax with Herbed Cream Cheese and Creme Fraiche
• Basil Roasted Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella
• White Pizza
• BBQ Chicken with Jalapeños, Pepper Jack & a Refreshing Salad Topper

BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 T chopped Garlic
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 oz. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 oz. hot sauce
• 1 3/4 C Ketchup
• 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
• 2 Tablespoons Molasses
• 1/4 C yellow mustard
• 1/4 C White Vinegar
• 1/4 C Dark Brown Sugar

Method:

In a two Quart sauce pan, over low heat, melt butter. Add all ingredients. Stir constantly, increase heat to simmer (Do not boil) for approximately 10 minutes.

I’ve been making bagels on the weekends. They are fairly easy to make. There are a couple of ways to form them. Roll them into a tube and then press the ends together or roll them into a ball and poke a hole in them. This week made balls with holes and they made much prettier bagels.

When I was in high school I worked at Fredrico’s Pizza and I learned how not to hold a utility knife and how to hand toss pizzas. I was surprised when I made my bagel balls that I still had the muscle memory from the pizza tossing days.

Dough with Holes.

Ready for Soda Bath

Both sides

Put bagels on baking sheet. Sprinkle with toppings. I used Dipping Herbs.

YUM!