Monthly Archives: October 2015

People Don’t know WTFork a Good Baked Item Should Taste Like

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

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After tasting some of the desserts I’ve tried fairly recently around where I live I truly believe that people don’t know WTFork a Good Baked Item should taste like.

No……. I’m not talking forking fancy smancy high end Las Vegas Desserts like the ones below.

Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas

Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas NV.

I talking good baked goods and desserts that just about everyone loves like  pies, cookies, bagels, cream puffs, cakes and breads. Desserts that are free of non-dairy whipped cream and artificial flavorings. Desserts that aren’t made with fillings from a can or package. Honest to goodness real desserts that are made with butter, fresh eggs and cream. I’m also talking real breads. Crusty, flavorful breads. Real breads that you look forward to eat.

When I was growing up it seemed every neighborhood had at least one bakery. No matter what kind of bakery I went in to Italian, Jewish or German……… where I grew up…… during that time you could always count on something fresh baked and scrumptious. The bakeries had this great aroma that I still remember. The aroma of fresh baked goods was so good your belly would forking hurt if you didn’t eat something.

Real bakeries were also very noisy places.

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You hear lots of machinery. Heavy duty mixers, the cash register, the conversations of customers.  You’d always hear the mechanic loud thundering roar of maybe several different bread slicing machines going-

Bread Slicers looked something like this

Bread Slicers looked something like this

slicing fresh loves of crusty breads for customers that were waiting in the long line. In those days even the forking malls all had bakeries. They weren’t the same as the free standing bakeries but looking back a whole heck of a lot better than some of what I see today sometimes. In those old days you’d make the weekly trip to the bakery to purchase bread and a few treats. Once in a while you might order a cake for a special occasion. Children were always given a few complimentary cookies and if a child was lucky their parent let them pick out a special yummy treat. In those days people cared about quality. You could partake in enjoying natural ingredients like real butter, eggs and real cream in your fresh baked goods no matter what bakery you walked into. The whole bakery smelled like sugar and spice. If you worked in a bakery you left smelling like a donut. (I know because I did)

Time has marched on and things are different now. Life styles have changed. People are busier than ever and are always on the go working more hours. Doing more things.

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Many people are also more health conscience too, they are working out and are not eating desserts or breads like they used too.

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So weekly trips to the bakery are made by less people these days. They are not a priority these days. Fewer more limited new bakeries do pop up every once in a while and also many of the old bakeries have shuttered since the neighborhood  bakery for most people is a relic of the past.

People these days often settle for convenience and pick up something processed and cheaper from their local supermarket.

Typical baked item from any local supermarket

Typical baked item from any local supermarket

Something created with man made chemicals that sort of looks like dessert. Something that can sit on a shelf for a long time. Something that anybody can whip up possibly even made by the guy pictured below

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by only adding a few ingredients, mixing it (with something clean one hopes) and baking it in a timed oven….DING!. Just add some pudding from a can or a mix and some non-dairy cream and Woop there it is. Many people actually think this sort of dessert taste good and this is what dessert actually is because that is what they are used too.

It just forking KILLS ME that a few local bakeries in my area put out baked goods that are on par with the level of supermarket bakeries.

Lemon Bar from Baker Wee Glendale AZ

Lemon Bar from Baker Wee Glendale AZ

Recently I thought I’d try a baked treat from a bakery I was passing by on the way home from some place. The bakery offered me a rugula while I was deciding on what I’d try. I thought the rugula was pretty good and thought whatever I tried would be ok because after all it was from a bakery. I love lemon bars because of the lemony filling, the tasty crumbs and they usually have a buttery tender crust. I love the play between tangy, sweet and savory, so I picked a lemon bar thinking it would be just right. I dug into the lemony curd first. It had this unnatural flavor like low quality lemonade. It also lacked the creamy, silky mouthfeel of natural lemon curd that’s rich and carefully made. Instead this lemon filling was sort of Jell-o like. I don’t think a human created it. Perhaps something demonic?  I think the yellow goo was made in a laboratory and stored in a can till it got sold to this bakery.

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The top crumbs were edible but not delicious and buttery. The bottom crust was as thick as a life raft

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and hard like cement.

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God this lemon bar was terrible I thought I was going to cough up a forking brick from the few bites I ate. It was so bad I can never step in this bakery again.

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Another bakery not too far from out of my way is an Italian Bakery.

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I thought they’d make an OK Italian Rum Cake that I wanted to give someone for a gift. I thought the cake looked ok and this bakery just like the last one I spoke about gets very high reviews on a certain review website. This cake purchase goes a half year back so I don’t remember every detail about the cake but I do remember the filling most because it was very unnatural tasting so much so it was memorable. I remember the filling was what made eating the cake next to impossible. The filling tasted like they dumped in a whole bottle of forking rum extract into the filling. Rum extract not forking real rum……..rum extract.  I don’t recall the rest of the cake being very tasty but I can tell you the filling made it a lost cause.  I felt terrible when I tasted this cake, sorry and embarrassed that I gave it to someone.

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I also purchased what they called Italian bread from this bakery and I kid you not. The bread tasted like squishy unnatural white bread from the forking supermarket. I can never go back to that bakery either. Eating baked goods from those bakeries was just like purchasing a baked good from the supermarket or from the dollar store. They were just very unappetizing. It forking saddens me and confuses me. I have no understanding on why you’d open a bakery if you aren’t baking scrumptious decadent treats?

 

It appears that these bakeries have enough business. Both have been in business for years and both have great reviews on a certain review website. Maybe it’s all because people don’t know what the fork Good Baked goods should taste like.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Baked Crispy Creamy Malted Rice Balls Recipe

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Here’s a Forking Unique recipe that everyone will like. The inside is creamy, lightly sweetened, almost saucy rice with pleasing familiar flavors. The exterior is crispy and very tasty. Serve them warm from the oven. It comes out like a baked rice pudding in a crispy shell. You’ll get yummmmmmm….”what’s that flavor?’ from your tasters. A secret small piece of banana melts into the middle with the coconut milk, malt and rice. It just works together well.

Ingredients to make 21 servings (one ball is a serving…it’s a just right generous bite)

1 cup white rice

1 13.5 oz. can light coconut milk

1/4 cup water

7 Tablespoons carnation malted milk powder

1 Tablespoon butter

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons malt flour (purchase malt flour online or from Asian Market)

1 extra large egg beaten

1 cup whole wheat panko

1/4 cup carnation malted milk powder

1 banana

Non stick Spray for baking sheet(s)

Directions set oven to 400 degrees F

In a large sauce pan bring to boil your coconut milk, water, 7 Tablespoons malted milk powder and  butter. When it boils then add the rice and then turn it down to simmer and cover with foil for about 20 minutes or till the rice is cooked.

Take off burner and add sugar, malt flour, and the beaten egg and mix well. Put back on burner on medium heat and heat it up till it simmers. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator several hours or over night. You want the mixture firmer for working with.

Once chilled use a meatball scoop and scoop out rice like your making a meatball.Now indent the rice and slice off a small piece of banana to fit in the hole.

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Cover the hole up with some rice mixture and roll in the panko combined with remaining powdered malted milk.

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Place the balls on your sprayed baking sheet(s) for about 15 minutes in a 400 degree F oven and enjoy!

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These are Yummy and that's The Forking Truth

These are Yummy and that’s The Forking Truth

 

The Chile Relleno I will never Forking order Again

Popo's Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

A chile Relleno is usually but not always a stuffed Poblano Pepper. It is usually stuffed with cheese but can also be stuffed with meat and might come with a sauce. Somethings it’s fried and sometimes it isn’t.

Below is a picture of a typical Chile Relleno.

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Often a Chile Relleno might look like this inside.

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Below is a Central Mexican Style Chile Relleno.

Los Sombreros Scottsdale AZ

Los Sombreros Scottsdale AZ

Here’s what the Chile Relleno I recently had looked like inside.

Popo's Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

It was a green chile stuffed with white mild cheese that was topped with egg whites that were covered in green chile sauce and LOTS of cheddar cheese. It truly might not be the worst one out there but it tasted terrible to me. That heavy cheese and not so tasty sauce really KILLED the delicate fluffy egg whites. It was like putting a shag rug over your down blanket. Inside was a mild green chile that was kind of hard in texture and also had no color at all from being cooked. My forking stomach just locked up and I couldn’t eat anymore of it.

This is the First Chile Relleno I didn’t forking like.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

Forking Stacked Eggs – Something Different

Forking Stacked Eggs

Forking Stacked Eggs

Those three layers of eggs are only two eggs a serving and are mixed with a few toppings and sprinkled with a little bit of cheese between the layers.

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3 egg whites and a splash of water are in one bowl with scallions. 3 egg yolks and splash of water with some sautéed onions and peppers are in another bowl. The last bowl has one whole beaten egg with a splash of water and some bacon.

I put them all in shortened sheet pans coated with non stick spray.

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I cover the pans with aluminum foil and put them in a 375 degree F oven. The whole egg pan and the egg white pan are done in 10 minutes. The all yolk pan needs 5 more minutes. You can do these eggs the same way in a fry pan but the creamy all yolk pan will come out different and won’t be an even layer when you do it in a fry pan.

The whole egg layer should go on the bottom. (note I put one half layer on each plate- this is two servings)

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And top it with a sprinkle of cheese

Next should the creamy all yolk layer.

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Top that one with a light sprinkle of cheese.

Then top with the egg white layer.

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Serve them up. They are something different and you can customize the eggs as you like. What makes them extra special is that all yolk layer. It so creamy and rich you will be delighted. Something Forking different I came up with.

Forking Stacked Eggs

Forking Stacked Eggs

This is forking good and that's The Forking Truth

This is forking good and that’s The Forking Truth

 

Forking GREAT Pumpkin Dog Biscuit Recipe

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My 14 1/2 year old dog just had life saving surgery and I wanted to make him a special treat. I remember the veterinarian said that pumpkin is forking good for dogs. So an all natural high end biscuit was created for him. The biscuits are made from fresh pumpkin, spelt flour, rolled oats, butter and egg. He smelled the biscuits just before they were done and marched into the kitchen.

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And when the biscuits were cool enough………..

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Ooh he REALLY FORKING Likes them…phewwww…he has a discriminating palate and doesn’t like many things other than meat, cheese and butter. He has always been a picky one. The three year old really likes them too!

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Ingredients makes 22 servings

1 cup fresh pumpkin flesh mashed DON’T FORKING USE CANNED***Tips on Pumpkin Below

1 cup spelt

1 cup rolled oats DON’T FORKING USE INSTANT

2 oz butter melted

1 extra large egg beaten

Directions Set oven to 350 degrees

Mix up all the ingredients and put 1/2 in a pastry bag with about 1/2 inch cut off the tip. Squeeze out dough into about 3 inch log shapes onto parchment paper on top of your sheet tray.

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If desired shape the logs into bone shapes

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and bake about 30 minutes in your preheated 350 degree oven. Serve in moderation as a snack. No chemicals so keep in the refrigerator and use within the week.

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These are Forking Great Dog Biscuits and That's The Forking Truth

These are Forking Great Dog Biscuits and That’s The Forking Truth

Pumpkin Tips

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The most delicious pumpkin looks like this. Make sure you purchase the bright green ones because the duller ones aren’t as sweet or flavorful. These squash go by several names and are mostly named kobacha squash or Thai Pumpkin in this area but I read that they are also called Italian Pumpkin. The easiest and safest way to prepare it is to Just toss it in a pan. Add a little water cover with foil and put in a 350 degree oven and between 45- 75 minutes it should be done depending on size. Most go for about an hour. You want the squash to be fork tender. When the squash is cool enough to handle split it in half and scoop out the stringy seeds.

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Then cut off the skin.

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Keep going till done and you have lots of delicious pumpkin ready for use.

 

The Forking Truth might be that Not All Aluminum Foil Is Vegetarian

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I noticed something strange on my aluminum pan. It was a kosher mark.

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I thought why the FORK would aluminum need to be marked kosher so I did a little forking digging. I did find out some kind of oil is used in the manufacturing process of aluminum foil. I found that my pans are made with mineral oil. I called Reynolds and the person I spoke to had no forking idea of what kind of oil they use but their foil is also marked kosher.

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This one I have my doubts and find it hard to believe that aluminum foil might not be vegetarian. But then again why the fork would the foil need to be marked kosher? Do some foil manufacturers use lard? Whale grease? Forking Beaver grease?

But according to many sites on the web such as….

www.eye.worldpress.com

www.jainworld.com

www.creativesulekha.com

www.gleez.com

The above sites all post that bull’s intestines are used in the aluminum manufacturing process.

Indian Airlines at some point discovered the sweets they sold were wrapped in foil that was manufactured with bull’s intestines and immediacy stopped selling foil wrapped desserts on planes. (This is according to the above sites)

I never would have forking dreamed that any foil manufacturer would use an animal product in the production of aluminum foil. But since some foils are marked U maybe there is more to learn.

It’s FORKING POSSIBLE that your foil might not be Vegetarian.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

Forking Delicious Baked Crispy Spicy Cauliflower Recipe

Crispy Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

Forking Delicious Crispy Spicy Baked Cauliflower

Some things have to be fried to be delicious but not forking everything!  This baked crispy  cauliflower comes out so forking tasty you just might eat 1/2 a head or so. This cauliflower is very easy to prepare and taste like it might have been fried. For best results you need only thin coatings of dressing and crumbs and don’t make the cauliflower florets too forking big. Give them a try most people will like them because they are tasty and they aren’t too spicy.

Ingredients  about 8 servings

1 cauliflower cleaned and broken down into florets

1 cup panko bread crumbs (I used whole wheat panko)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)

1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise (mine was 15 calories a Tablespoon)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

pinch cardamon

Directions set oven to 350 degrees

You need a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

To one bowl add your panko, salt, cayenne and celery seeds

to another bowl mix up the hot sauce, mayonnaise, turmeric, garlic, paprika and pinch of cardamon and mix well.

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Now take a piece of cauliflower and dip it in the sauce mix and shake off.

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Now dip in crumb mixture and shake off

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and place on lined baking sheet.  Repeat till done and place in your 350 degree oven.

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After 45 minutes in my oven the cauliflower was crisp and tasty. They are good as is or you can make a dip for them.

Crispy Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

Forking Delicious Crispy Spicy Baked Cauliflower

 This is Forking Tasty and that's The Forking Truth

This is Forking Tasty and that’s The Forking Truth