Recipe testing for a new cookbook

Earlier this month I was selected to test recipes for a new cookbook from Steamy Kitchen blogger Jaden Hair. The cookbook is all about healthy, simple Asian recipes, which is a bit of a diversion from my usual style of cooking.

It's been an awesome opportunity to be a part of this behind the scenes process (well, that makes it sound a bit more glamourous than it is, but ok!). I've even had some dreams about it... like meeting Jaden, and shopping for mangoes. One of the challenges of food blogging for me is writing recipes that are easy to follow--so following someone else's recipes as closely as possible has been a valuable experience for me as a writer.

Understandably, I can't share the recipes with you (for that, you'll have to get the book!), but here's some food porn (food porn-y because of Jaden's delicious recipes, certainly not my photography "skills") for you (click on photos to enlarge):

Scallion dipping sauce

Edamame noodle salad

Carrots w/ sesame & ponzu

Crispy rice patties

Mom's pow-pow sauce

A combination for lunch!

Healing chicken ginger soup

Roasted squash

Carrot ginger juice (& pulp)

Roasted chestnuts

Eggs w/ pow-pow sauce

Mango brulee

Simple shrimp pasta

I've been asked by a handful of people if I would teach them to cook. It's always an adventure teaching someone something, especially if you aren't used to being a teacher.

This is the recipe I wish I had thought of during those times. There must be thousands of recipes for shrimp pasta littering the internet, but with good reason. It's simple but covers several techniques that are useful for many dishes. As a meal, this can also come together in well under 30 minutes.

Best thing you aren't* eating: brownie bites

*A “Best thing you aren’t eating” post, in which I share recipes that are so easy you can barely call them recipes, for things so simply delightful that I don’t know why I didn’t eat them before or why I’m not eating them everyday, and on the off chance you haven’t eaten them, it would be very very rude for me not to share.

This post is a bit of a two-fer, a simple recipe that led to the discovery of the true "best thing you aren't eating." Looking for something to bring to a family party, I decided on making brownie bites (you can call them brownie truffles if you're feeling fancy).

Brownie bites/truffles

-Bake your favorite brownie recipe or box mix according to directions, let cool completely.

-Trim the crunchy edges (bonus snack!) and cut brownie into small squares (mine were a little smaller than 1x1inches)

-Roll squares into balls (this will get messy)

-Freeze for at least 30 minutes

-To coat, melt chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave (zap in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted)

-Stick a skewer in each ball to dip in the chocolate, shake off the excess and set on wax paper and let harden (either in a cool room or the freezer). Leave plain like to the left, or add sprinkles like above.

I was worried about transporting them during the hour drive. This led to some research on how brownies would freeze (the answer is GREAT) and reading several comments from people addicted to eating brownies straight out of the freezer.

Here's the bonus part. I was skeptical but I cannot emphasize this enough: eat a frozen brownie. Try just one. And then tell me you don't want to do it again, I dare you. They don't freeze solid, but instead get intensely chewy and fudgy and heavenly.

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Bettina bakes all the things: yogurt cake

In my last job, I took on the role of office birthday baker. It was a nice opportunity for me, who lived alone, to try new recipes and not worry about eating entire cakes or batches of cookies on my own. Sometimes though, when a birthday was in the middle of the week, or when I had to work late the night before, it was helpful to have a recipe I could rely on to come together quickly, easily, and deliciously.

For those times, that recipe was a yogurt poundcake. One bowl, no electric mixers, and one pan.

Super (spinach salad in a) Bowl

When you're done eating wings, nachos, and other delicious things no one invited me to bring to their Super Bowl party today, you might want something a little lighter, but still delicious, to eat this coming week.

Macaroni and Easy Cheesy

I have a friend I've known since I was six years old, who before a few weeks ago, had only eaten one of my home-cooked meals. Nonetheless, that single meal, macaroni and cheese, was enough to get her testimony that she thinks I'm a great cook. Unfortunately, it's not often anymore that we are both in the same area, and when that overlapped earlier this month, we decided to have another macaroni and cheese date.

The first time I had cooked for her, several years ago, I used a mac n cheese recipe from Campbell's Creative Cooking with Soup, which used cheddar cheese soup as the base for the sauce. Since then I've made many variations of macaroni and cheese totally from scratch, but I wanted to do something that met a bit in the middle for my friend, as to not totally stray from the original dish, but to step up the taste and texture a little. Thus, I'll call this my shortcut, weekday, they'll-never-know-if-you-don't-tell-them macaroni and easy cheesy: quick to pull together with a few shortcuts, but satisfying, creamy, and of course cheesy.

About that feelings part

Welcome to Cream Cheese and Feelings, my food blog baby.

As the subtitle above says, yes, this is yet another food blog. I know I've thrown my hat into the massive rodeo of food blogs, and I'd be honored to get even the status equivalent of the rodeo clown.

Still, if you're a friend, you know how important food is to me and my life. If you're not a friend, I hope you'll not only become one, but also learn about my passion for food. I believe food plays an important role in culture and people’s lives--it’s comfort, nourishment, energy, community. I like to cook food, eat food, look at food, share food, read about food and write about food. You can expect original recipes, adaptations of others, my opinions about food and the future of food, book and blog recommendations, and stories about people and life coming together around food.

Thanks for coming by, and I hope you'll come back Saturday for the first new recipe!
-Bettina

*I can't publish this post without crediting the fabulous name of this blog to my fabulous friend. Thank you, Leah!*

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