Lentils

Best lentils ever! I asked my friend Sarah to give me the recipe so that I could post it here! I hope you enjoy them!

The most important thing here is the french puy lentils. It really makes a difference .

2 oz. smoked bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
4 sprigs thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
12 oz. green Puy lentils, rinsed and drained
2 tbs. dijon mustard
1 tbs. red wine vinegar

Special things needed: Kitchen Twine (you can get it at any department store)

Cook bacon in a fairly large (tall) saucepan over medium-high heat, until its fat has rendered (melted away), and bacon is crispy. Add butter, onions, carrots, and celery; cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Tie parsley, thyme, and bay leaves together with kitchen twine; add to pan. Stir in lentils and 5 1⁄2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Discard herbs. Stir in mustard and vinegar; season with salt and pepper.

Serve with an extra splash of vinegar, top with parmesean cheese and crusty bread, or if you're feeling adventerous, top with arugula and a fried egg (yuuuum)
Enjoy!

Red Velvet Pudding cookies

These cookies are probably the best cookies I've ever made, next to mom's chocolate chip. The gooey yummy warm cookie just fills me with happiness and I hope it does that for you too!
Recipe from: Chef in Training

You need:
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 box of chocolate instant pudding mix (3.4 oz)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
(optional) 1 teaspoon red food coloring (preferably something organic)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking SODA (NOT POWDER!!!!)
Pinch 'o' salt
1 cup white chocolate chips (or any kind of chocolate chips for that matter)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Slightly stir flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar together (one of those moments when you just really want a mixer :)). Add pudding mix and stir/mix until well incorporated. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in food coloring (who am I to hold you back to just red?) until well blended. Add flour slowly until well mixed. Hand-stir in chocolate chips. Roll cookie balls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 9-12 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Makes about 24 cookies.
ENJOY!!!

Chocolate pudding

This is the best chocolate pudding ever. And I mean EVER. This was the first chocolate pudding recipe I tried, and it has worked for me every time. I sometimes leave out the crushed pretzels, but you can do whatever you want with this. I hope you enjoy!
Recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/chocolate-pudding-and-pretzels-recipe/index.html

Pretzels:
1 cup pretzels, slightly crushed
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar

Pudding:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (Hershey's preferably)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk (works with soy milk too)
1 egg
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pretzels:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss Pretzels in butter and sugar. Place on sheet pan. bake until sugar melts and crystallizes. About 10 mins.

Pudding:
In a medium sauce pan, whisk together cocoa, sugar, and cornstarch. Form a well like shape in the center and slowly whisk in milk over medium heat. This makes the cornstarch not clumpy. bring mixture to a boil to thicken. Remove from heat. This is the tricky part; in a small bowl, whisk some of the warm mixture with the egg until the egg is about the same temperature as the mixture. This is called tempering the egg. Heat over low until mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency. About 3 to 5 min. Mix in chocolate chips and melt well with no clumps. If the pudding is clumpy, you can use a sifter or small holed colender to strain pudding. Chill at least 1 hour. Makes enough for 4 ramekins.

Welcome to my blog!

In this blog, I will be blogging about something I love. Food.  Every recipe I try will be posted for others, and I will try to explain how it tasted. Each recipe you see here is tried, or to be tried, and anyone is welcome to using these in everyday cooking life.

Happy cooking,
Marlon (marlo)