Christmas presents

Mini cheesecakes in little pastry dough cups, covered in blueberry sauce, packed with chocolate and walnut cookies tied with little ribbons.

Also, a small 1-person cheesecake to thank my uncle for working on my cousin's and my future apartment downstairs. (Merci means Thank You). The letters were "carved" out of the cheesecake and filled with blueberry jam. The rest is covered in blueberry jam.

Food food food

Pastry dough squares with a mushroom and cream stuffing, stick in the oven~ delicious!

For the stuffing:
- chop mushrooms into little pieces
- heat some cream over the fire, once it's warm, add the mushroom
- add a dollop of butter
- sift some flour in until the it is less liquid
- season with salt, sugar, pepper and Italian seasoning

An attempt at a rose-flavored cheesecake, with raspberry sauce on top, accompanied by raspberry sorbet. That was a mistake, since it masked the cheesecake's flavor. Although it originally stood out, the rose's taste was not pronounced enough in the cheesecake. To redo one day.

Some pasta I forgot to post

December 07, 2011

As I recall... Eggplant, mushroom, and cooking cream are the base ingredients of the sauce.

Pasta and a rose

Penne with veggies and tomato sauce, decorated with a mozzarella rose. Served with Parmesan and grated cheese.

Cousin's Birthday

For my cousin's birthday:
1) fluffy white cupcakes (my first time ever) with whipped cream on top.

2) a failed cake... (It's supposed to be a fondant au chocolat but it failed....)

Cheesecake ^^

So one of my friends gave me the recipe, and I usually adapt it to my own taste. I'm not one to stick much to recipes. Once I try them once, I add or remove stuff to satisfy myself. I have yet to find the ultimate cheesecake crust recipe, since in Belgium, I can't find the pre-made pie crusts that my friend told me to use. If you want to use those, this recipe makes 2 cheesecakes. But since I used store-bought pastry dough, this is the result. The topping is an attempt at making blueberry pie filling like the ones in cans, with frozen blueberries. Wasn't really bad, but not quite there yet.


Ingredients:
- 2 Philadelphia cream cheeses
- 300g or one small tub sour cream
- 2 eggs (I use Orgran egg replacer)
- lemon juice
- vanilla extract
- topping (anything you want, really)

1. Preheat oven (71°C)
2. Mix sour cream, cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla, then add in the eggs
3. Pour into the crust then put into the oven for about 45 minutes or until slightly cracked
4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours
5. Decorate with topping, and refrigerate until served.

Pictures:

Tagliatelle -- my own recipe

So I made this for dinner today, but completely forgot to take pictures ^^. I'm not exactly sure of the proportions, but these are the amounts I used. Anyways, for the seasoning, I add some, taste it, then add more if needed. Really that's how I cook. No definite recipe.

As I read in many places, when you cook, you feed yourself to people. In a way, it's like, if you prefer things a little sweeter, you'll instinctively add more sugar than other things. So you give to other what you would eat. But I think cooking itself is fun. Of course, I know I do it to my own taste (so that's why it's often too salty for my parents), but I get this kind of joy when I chop the veggies or stir the pot. I am glad that I can make food for the people I love.

So this recipe is not really accurate and precise, since the amounts may not be right. Will come back to fix it when I figure it all out!

Ingredients:
- 4 servings tagliatelle pasta
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 carrots, diced
- 4 medium mushrooms, diced
- 1 large eggplant, diced
- 1 tofu, shredded (squeeze in your hands)
- 1 piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 small can tomato concentrate
- cooking cream
- olive oil or any mild oil (sunflower, nut, etc.)
- paprika and curry powder
- italian seasoning
- salt, sugar, pepper to taste
- shredded cheese

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
2. Sautée the celery in oil until the leaves are darker or the white part is golden. Add in the carrots. After a while, add in the eggplant. Make sure to stir well so the vegetables don't stick. Add in a pinch of salt and some pepper.
3. In a saucepan, cook the tomatoes in oil until liquidized. Add in the vegetables from Step 2. Stir well. Lower the heat and cover. After 2-3 minutes, add in mushrooms, then the tomato concentrate. After stirring actively for a moment, add the "crushed" tofu.
4. Sautée the ginger and add it to the sauce. Add the cooking cream.
5. Add about 1/4 teaspoons each of the curry and paprika powder (I'm not sure how much, did it randomly ^^). Add 2 pinches of italian seasoning. Salt and sugar to taste.
6. Plate the pasta, pour the sauce on top. Sprinkle with a pinch of italian seasoning and some pepper. Put shredded cheese on top. Serve hot.

Note: The sauce should seem like it is too dry. It won't be, but it looks like it.