CUL-I-NAR-I-CA-TION (n.) the art of kitchen wizardry.

I feel that there are moments that every food blogger secretly lives for. For me, I get excited over every comment, every like or reblog or new follower, any acknowledgment that shows me that someone saw what I made and appreciated it. Just last week I googled ‘Culinarication’ (you know, for funsies), and I came across someone who blogged about the light chocolate chip cookie recipe I posted. To say I was giddy would be quite the understatement. I commented on the post, even though it was at least 7 months old, just to say I was glad that she had tried the recipe and liked it enough to write about it. I just think it’s really awesome that no matter how insignificant you think your blog is, someone out there is probably reading it, and is possibly inspired by something you created.

The other thing that gets blogger-me excited is when I take that picture. Not just any photo, but that one… the one that makes me do a double take and ask “Did I do that?” à la Steve Urkel. It only happens when the sun is shining at the right moment, and the food is plated just right, and you’ve got the camera at just the right angle… for me, that doesn’t happen all the time. I’ve had this blog for a little over a year now, and while I’ve been using the same camera, I like to think my food photography has stepped up it’s game a bit. It also doesn’t hurt that my current apartment has great light during the day… even if I have to balance plates on my couch.

… no, I’m not kidding. Full-on Cirque du Poulet in here!

This is another ATK recipe (I see your jaws dropping). I chose it because it seemed like a very flavorful, yet healthy dish, and that turned out to be very true. The mushrooms added an extra meatiness and soak up the flavor of the sauce, and the wine just makes this dish feel special, like I was dining out. Also, you HAVE to use the Parmesan rind… it really is what makes the sauce taste so good. Whole foods sells tubs of the rinds, but I just bought a hunk of parmesan with the rind still attached so I could have the best of both worlds. I think this dish could easily be made with boneless, skinless breasts to make a quicker and lighter meal. I really hope you try it, and more importantly, love it as much as I did!

recipe after the cut!

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I just bought a 1 lb block of callebaut white chocolate, just for funsies. What should I make?

Back in November, I distinctly remember not being able to find pumpkin. Granted, I wasn’t looking too hard or for too long, but I think anyone who has gone to a grocery store only to find that the thing that they need is out of stock can understand the frustration, right? It’s not like I’m going to find a can of pumpkin at Citgo. While I’m sure that McDonald’s uses heavy cream (or some sort of cream-like chemical contraption), I doubt I’ll be able to pick up a pint there (side note: I still have not been able to figure out where they have put the heavy cream in my local grocery store. Good for my weight loss resolution, BAD for my baking). Anyways, on my third trip to the store, I geared up for battle. I seriously thought I was going to have to fight someone over a can of Libby’s. I imagine it would have been very similar to Frank Costanza’s tale of how Festivus came to be.

Raining blows, etc. etc.

Luckily, someone had the good sense to leave me a couple of cans, and with no competition around me, a crisis was averted. I was ready to make whoopie pies.

The original recipe was from Bon Appetit. My changes to the recipe were minor; using vanilla extract instead of maple, and I doubled the amount of powdered sugar to get more frosting and that grainy-sugary texture that frosting HAS to have (for me) in order to be satisfying. Let me tell you, the frosting is delicious. I am seriously considering marshmallow fluff as a vital ingredient in all frosting recipes.

Half of this recipe made 6 big pies and 4 mini pies. I cut the big pies in half and took them to work, and kept the mini ones allllll to myself (I couldn’t even be bothered to take a picture to share). Whether you make them big or small, do NOT overbake. They can get a bit dry and lose some flavor if you bake them too long. For that reason, I’d probably go with the mini pies. Plus, mini is cute, right?

If I had a picture of a mini whoopie pie, this is where you’d be agreeing with me.

Here. Look at half a pie. It’s almost like a mini pie….right?

Right.

click here for the recipe for Bon Appetit’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

(Source: culinarication)

Hello, internets! It is I, Kari, officially back from my unintentional (and somewhat embarrassing) blogging hiatus. I come bearing gifts: namely, this french toast.

This french toast, which I made back in December, is perfect for weekends, because all the work is done the night before. You just have to wake up long enough to throw it into the oven. You don’t even have to wake up, really; your usual groggy workday morning march will suffice. And if you’re a (functional) sleeepwalker, you’ve got us all beat. Really, it’s like someone else got up to make you breakfast! I could use more of that in my life.

I wanted to make this again this morning so I could post better pictures, but on Friday, sometime between 8AM-5PM, my bread decided that life was only worth living as a penicillin factory. That factory quickly found it’s way to the garbage chute.

Am I making you hungry with all this mold speak?

This is another America’s Test Kitchen recipe… not only because I love them (my DVR is 70% full, and 90% of the content is ATK episodes. Seriously, guys, I have a problem…) but also because I only own about 4 cookbooks and 2 of them are from the geniuses at Cook’s Country. 

My favorite part by far is the pecan topping.. it’s crunchy, sweet, and removes the need for syrup. AND the nutty flavor is amped up by the fact that you toast the bread before you soak it… genius. Ok, I’m going to need to stop talking about this now, before I find myself making a late-night run to the grocery store…

(recipe after the cut!)

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(Source: culinarication)