Just 5 Ingredients

Last Friday, Om Nom Nom Studios "office" relocated. It was a very necessary move that came up somewhat suddenly. The flooding and it's implications (things like insect infestation and mold) that I mentioned months ago were still a very real issue for the boy and I. With the situation worsening daily, relocation was a must.

The move has been difficult, and I don't just mean because I was without internet for a week (our modem was stolen from our new front porch the day we were relocating), but because of some sort of error on the part of Columbia Gas leaving us without heat.

Soup weather just became that much more soup weather for me. In my unpacking I looked through my own personal cook book for a recipe my mother clipped out of a magazine years ago and gave to me. I remember making many, many pots of this cream-based soup when I lived in South Philadelphia. [Shown: Leftovers brought home from the boys grandmother's house]

Originally I intended to make a half batch of this soup but in the end decided to head over to the boy grandmother's house and make the entire batch to share with her and anyone else who was interested.

Impressions of the soup:
*One of the boys aunts was able to find it enjoyable to the point that she requested the recipe.
*Grandma's impression of the soup was that she had to apologize to me and that the soup was not as horrible as she'd anticipated (it's here that I think it would be best to mention not only is the boy a picky eater but it would seem his entire family is.)
*Lizzie K. said that the soup reminded her of her mothers crab dip.

So, for the aunt who requested it, and any others who may be interested in a very quick and easy cream-based soup, here is the recipe as it appears on the paper taped into my cookbook:

"This satisfying soup simmers for just 15 minutes, yet boasts the kind of rich flavour that typically requires a couple of hours on the stove.

Crab-Corn Bisque

In a large suacepan, stire together two 14.75-ounce cans creamed corn; 2 cups half-and-half; 2 cups frozen potatoes with onions and peppers, thawed; 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-high for 12 minutes. Stir in 1/2 pound imitation crab meat (surimi), coarsely chopped; simmer for 2 minutes longer or until the coup is heated through. Makes 6 servings at $1.53 each.

Nutrient Value Per Serving:
295 calories, 9 g fat (6 g saturated), 11 g protein, 43 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 1,064 mg sodium, 48 mg cholesterol."

Notes:
*I chose to use fresh potato but didn't stop to think about the cook time of the potato in relation to the rest of the soup which left me with a much longer cook time. If you prefer to use fresh potato, cook them first before adding them to the soup.
*I used green peppers the boys grandmother had frozen that were previously fresh. I just barely thawed them, chopped them, and threw them into the pot.
*No onions went into the creation of this soup because most members of the boys family are anti-onion. Knowing his aunt wanted to try it and learning that she did not like onions - they were left out.

Om Nom Nom Studios Eight-Layer Heart-Attack Pizzagna

My dear sweet hubbycakes has had a few bad days in a row. What almost always cheers me up is a good meal. On tonight's menu we have stuffed pizza.

Now let's take a look what went into this particular stuffed pizza.

For one thing I started it around 10:30AM and he would not be home until after 4PM. Why on earth would I start this early? Dough. This was an impromptu idea, usually I let most dough's sit for no less than twenty-four hours. Doughs can be like wines. They have personalities and are capable of having complex flavours but need time to develop those flavours. But in all honesty your pizza won't be a total wash if you don't let the dough sit for a day or two. I let mine sit until about 2PM.

This particular dough was made with two types of flour and also has butter, Parmesan cheese, and garlic inside of it.

2PM was my chosen assembly time and it took me about an hour to do so.


Thin "coating" of pizza dough. Gotta be sure to bring it up the sides to insure that all the filling has something to hold it in.

An uninterrupted layer of sausage. This was put down in one solid sheet and THEN added to where I felt it was needed.

A layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of pepperoni.

Another layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of sauce.

A layer of black olives.

Yet another layer of mozzarella cheese.

A layer of bacon.

Another layer of dough that was topped off with more sauce. This was all put into the oven at 350 degrees for no less than forty-five minutes (honestly I wasn't really timing but I knew I wasn't taking it out sooner than that.)

Nothing about my end result was neat.


While I assembled this I really couldn't help but think about that episode of Sit Down, Shut Up called "Tackin';" where after a teacher has a heart attack and describes it as a blissful experience the students of the school begin fattening up and attempting to induce heart attacks to get high.

Celebrate Good Times!

Today is a day for celebration in my house. My husbands contract with the military officially ran out today! ! !



Tonight I am making one of his favourite meals, my Fettuccine Alfredo. I don't know about everyone else out there but after I eat I almost always want dessert, so I am making dreamsicle cupcakes using the basic info provided to me by a good friend and Facebook fan, Darling Misty B.


I was told I would need:
1 box cake mix
12 oz POP of choice (which translates to 1 1/2 cups)
Cool Whip

The idea here is to recreate the magical pairing of vanilla and orange to get that oh so familiar, childhood taste of dreamsicle in cupcake form. The store did have French vanilla cake mix but I am terribly allergic to French vanilla so we got white cake instead.

The back of the box has two recipe options, with or without egg-whites. The egg-white option called for more water 1 1/4 cups) and less oil. In lieu of a twelve pack of "pop" (as my Michigander friend put it) we bought a two-liter bottle. I measured out the "pop" ahead of time and put it in a glass to the side while I checked the directions of the back of the box.

At this point all you really need to do is follow the directions on the back of the box (combine cake, oil, water ["pop"], and egg-whites. Put into cupcake pan. Cook.)

The box says to cook for ten to fifteen minutes, I put them in for thirteen minutes but my test stick came out with stuff on it so I put them back in for another four. Those four extra minutes finished cooking them beautifully.

The cupcakes were so incredibly light when I took them out of the pan that it was a shame I did not have cool whip to use instead of icing (Which I have quite a bit of. We keep cake mix around because my husband enjoys making himself impromptu cake.)







The end result was a happy hubby.

I didn't think it tasted too dreamsicle-ish (maybe it was because I couldn't have the french vanilla cake mix). Hubby said he could taste the orange in it - I did not.

I won't give up tho, just gives me tons of ideas for later.

Baked Spaghetti A La Nom

Alright, it's a been a while since my last blog. A lot of that is because I am still somewhat buried in snow. If any of you follow me on Twitter, on my face book fan page, or Myspace (those accounts are somewhat linked) you may know that I try to somewhat regularly post pictures . . . usually of food.

I mentioned before that I had plans to start posting Om Nom Nom Recipes - not sure what happened to that. But it would seem all my food porn has sparked interest in what goes into some of those foods. I have yet to remake and tinker with the recipe for the stuffed bread I made a month or two ago.

Last night my dear sweet [nommy] hubby came home in a bit of a bad mood. Sad wife! A good cure for making my bad days a bitter better is good food. One of his favourite dishes I make is baked spaghetti. After seeing the picture of my baked spaghetti I was asked about a recipe. So here is a recipe worthy of half-assed patterns. And next time I think to do all this I will try to take pictures as I go along.



"Recipe" begins after you already have cooked the spaghetti.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

You will need a nice large, oven-safe piece of cookware.

First, I put a small layer of spaghetti sauce at the bottom (I used meat sauce), take a large spoon and spread it out and up the edges a bit and followed this with cheese.

Second, put a layer of spaghetti on top of the previous layer. The thickness of this layer is really up to you. My container was only so large so my layer wasn't terribly thick.

Repeat these two steps until you reach the top where your top will be sauce and cheese.

Lightly toss the spaghetti. Not enough so you disturb your cheese layers, just enough so that you make sure the sauce is all the way through.

Place spaghetti in the oven until cheese is melted to your liking. My husband likes burnt cheese so I burned the edges a bit for him.

Now you are ready to nom! Nom appetit!

A Recipe from the Om Nom Nom Household

Dear Santa,

Thank you so much for my husband who prepared these alcohol infused fruitseys.


Love,
Pro-Portional

I nearly didn't post this evening because not only have I been hard at work all day on some new items I am particularly excited about, but I had to quickly whip up some pineapple and apple chicken for dinner, which is being followed by what caused me to write my letter to Santa.

So now for something totally different. A post from my husband about how you too can enjoy these tasty alcoholic fruits.

Husband: Alright, well wifey asked me to make something for dessert.. we have next to no food in the house so I was at a bit of a loss but I went and looked through the kitchen. First thing I found was an ancient bag of whole strawberries hopelessly frozen... well rather than just give up on those I cut open the back, put them in a bowl, and let warm water run over them for about 10 minutes while I watched the end of the basketball game in the next room ;) shhhhhh...

I came back in and picked out the awful looking freezer burnt ones.. then poured a lot of sugar over them.. apparently this pulled lots of juice out and now it looked like strawberry soup. And at last, inspiration!

Cut up a couple apples that the wife didn't want to eat anyways and add those then I remembered something from middle school about lemon juice preserving apple slices so I added that too.. followed by... LIQUOR!!!

First I used up the last of the Malibu. But not really enough in there to make that work... already used up the last of the Everclear that night so now what? Aha! MOONSHINE!! Well now its plenty alcoholic ummm still needs something else? Aha Maraschino cherries! Thought about adding a can of fruit salad, but since I wasn't sure my concoction wasn't awful I figured I shouldn't add more food to something that may be a waste.

The end.