Friday, May 20, 2011
Cheesy Ranch Ramen
Recipe
2 packages finely chopped ramen noodles (any flavour)
1 cup ranch dressing
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Cook noodles in water according to the package directions and drain. Add ranch dressing and cheese to noodles and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted. Makes 2-4 servings.
Running Commentary
That's the recipe right there. it sound's idiot proof doesn't it? I'm going to half it though because I don't know how eager my brother will be to have any and we're not good with left overs either so there is no sense in cooking more than I can eat. I also am going to add bacon to it at the semi-request of my friend Andrew and because bacon makes everything taste better.
While I had planned type as I cooked this recipe moved way too quickly for that. I probably also should have measured out my ingredients before beginning but I thought I would have had time to do all that while the water was boiling. I also didn't get many photos either for the same reason.
The book says that unless directed otherwise you are to follow the directions on the package to cook the noodles. I don't know if it is just me but I found that a litte ambiguous. I boiled the noodles and did not add any flavouring to them because based on my understanding of cooking the noodles were cooked. I don't know whether or not the author intended for flavouring to be added and I suspect not because the flavour mostly affects the water anyhow. So I boiled my noodles and in no time they were done, all this while I was trying to microwave my bacon to avoid having to fry it. Then I added the noodles and let them cook until tender. While this was happening I grated the cheese (I used Edam cheese) and struggled to open the brand new bottle of ranch dressing that had been sitting in the cupboard.
I drained the noodles and left them on low heat while I opened the dressing. I quickly added the cheese and not so carefully measured dressing (it was still approximately 1 cup) and stirred continuously. Then I remembered that the bacon was still in the microwave so I got that and scattered it over my very creamy looking noodles. The aroma of it drifted up towards me and it smelt relatively bland (this may be the Jamaican in me coming out) so I went for my black pepper and started to apply liberally.
End Result
Then it was finished. I looked on it and all I saw was a mess of blah looking food. I decided let me add some of the seasoning anyway to hopefully spice things up a little. It helped some but the final product was still not fantastic. In a pinch this is a good one to cook because it's easy and really filling and the ingredients are things that are easy to find and very likely already in the house. I halved the ingredients and I'm struggling to finish half of my cooking. The other half is already in the fridge.
Remedying the Situation
Had I remembered before hand that I'm not a big fan of creamy foods then I may have not bothered to try this recipe as my introduction to the book. That being said, it was a simple recipe and the end product was not the best thing I have ever tasted but that could just be because of my specific tastes. I love salty, spicy and/or sweet foods and this was none of the above. I think I should have added more bacon to it, a lot more actually and possibly some other kinds of meat. I am pretty much a meat fiend so more meat is always a good thing. I also probably should have used a different kind of cheese, or even a combination of cheeses. Edam isn't my favourite cheese ever so it was probably a bad idea to use it for such a recipe, I don't know that I would have preferred using all cheddar either. I think based on my comments anyone can see that if I do this recipe again it's going to get a major overhaul.
101 Things To Do With Ramen
I'm very excited! I just got a new book, well four actually, but one of them is a cook book called 101 Things To Do With Ramen Noodles by Toni Patrick and it is exactly what it says.
Being a 21 year old who lives with my brother means that at meal times we pretty much have to fend for ourselves. Our parents are 30 miles away and while they occasionally bring us food, it tends to be more in the raw material form. Cooking is not something either of us had to do while growing up, we always had at least one helper and if they didn't cook then Mummy would. After we started to live on our own we realised that despite our affinity for it, cereal and milk would not quite cut it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. That's where Ramen Noodles came into the picture. We could have it for lunch and dinner...kidding. But only slightly, we do eat a lot of Ramen Noodles.
This book I had seen at Bookland (a local bookstore) quite a while back but somehow whenever I went back they didn't seem to have it. I paid a visit there today and was looking at 101 Things To Do With Cake Mix and there was the Ramen Noodle book hidden behind it. I picked it up and decided to buy it.
While flipping through the recipes I found one for Cheesy Ranch Ramen that caught my eye. I knew we had all the ingredients at home which meant saving me a trip to the supermarket and it sounded easy and delicious. I still ended up going to the supermarket to buy other random things and guess what, they had a special on Ramen Noodles. I figured since I have this book now I might as well stock up on the noodles and so my cupboard is now full of it. I don't have near 101 packs of it though so I'm sure I'll exhaust my stash in no time.
Being a 21 year old who lives with my brother means that at meal times we pretty much have to fend for ourselves. Our parents are 30 miles away and while they occasionally bring us food, it tends to be more in the raw material form. Cooking is not something either of us had to do while growing up, we always had at least one helper and if they didn't cook then Mummy would. After we started to live on our own we realised that despite our affinity for it, cereal and milk would not quite cut it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. That's where Ramen Noodles came into the picture. We could have it for lunch and dinner...kidding. But only slightly, we do eat a lot of Ramen Noodles.
This book I had seen at Bookland (a local bookstore) quite a while back but somehow whenever I went back they didn't seem to have it. I paid a visit there today and was looking at 101 Things To Do With Cake Mix and there was the Ramen Noodle book hidden behind it. I picked it up and decided to buy it.
While flipping through the recipes I found one for Cheesy Ranch Ramen that caught my eye. I knew we had all the ingredients at home which meant saving me a trip to the supermarket and it sounded easy and delicious. I still ended up going to the supermarket to buy other random things and guess what, they had a special on Ramen Noodles. I figured since I have this book now I might as well stock up on the noodles and so my cupboard is now full of it. I don't have near 101 packs of it though so I'm sure I'll exhaust my stash in no time.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
A good friend of mine has a birthday on Sunday and to celebrate we're all supposed to be making cupcakes tomorrow and then going to Uber (a club party). Now I don't know that I'll be going to Uber but the cupcake making is definitely something I can do. I'm not sure what kind our two other friends are going to be making but mine will be Strawberry Cheesecake.
I usually use the JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix because it is idiotically simple. It really is idiot proof. The pictures will show you. It comes with three packages inside and they're labelled 1, 2 and 3 just so you don't mix up the order you're to use them in. After having some errands to run tonight I finally get home and I'm ready to bake or not bake as the case is. What do you know, the measuring cup and 1tbsp measuring spoon is dirty in the sink thanks to my brother who never sees the need to wash up his cooking (and by cooking I mean box mac and cheese) utensils when he's going to leave the house. It's not like I'll need to use the things.
So I begin this adventure with my ingredients, my JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix, 1-1.5cups "cold" milk, 5-tbsp melted butter, 2-tbsp sugar and my utensils, my bowls, my spatula, measuring cup and spoon (which I have just washed), my foil muffin pans layered with my very cute "cupcake" baking cups. When I saw them today I just had to buy them, they were too cute not to have and it's 75 in a pack so they will definitely last a while. And of course a glass of red wine because it's so much more fun to cook with wine.
While doing step one which is mixing the crust I think that I must confess that the crust is my absolute favourite part of the cheesecake. Without a doubt, it is just so delicious. On pretty much all cheesecakes. I have yet to taste a crust that I've disliked. To do the crust all you do is mix the "Step 1 Crust Mix" with the sugar and melted butter until properly mixed and then you use the crust to cover the bottom of the backing cups.
The "Step 2 Filling Mix" is now added to the bowl of "cold" milk and mixed. The instructions say to use a mixer to do the mixing but since I don't have one of those I'm relying on some good old (wo)man power, elbow-grease and my trusty whisks. I have a slight obsession with whisks. Right now I only have two but every time I see one I have to stop myself from buying it. I'm using my small one now to whisk the mix together. The recipe calls for 1-1.5 cups of milk and I used a little over the 1 cup mark because the last time I made it the filling was a little too goopy for my liking. The box also says that the filling will be thick, I have yet to see that so I'm going to just keep on whisking until hopefully it thickens.
Wow, they should have just told you to leave it alone for a little while. I left it to type up the last paragraph and I go back to it and it's like cement. Well not quite obviously but it was pretty thick. That definitely did not happen the last time and I'm pretty sure I used a mixer because it was when I was at home home*.
I spooned the filling on top of my yummy crust and then use the spatula to smooth out the top. The box then advises that I refrigerate them for an hour before putting the strawberry topping on. I decided that I was just going to leave them in the fridge overnight and decorate them tomorrow. Either on my own or with my other friends in the evening I guess. I'm not exactly sure what the plan is but I'll find out eventually.
The pictures I took I'll post them tomorrow (or later) when I've done the decorating with filling part. That way there will be a photo of the finished product as well.
If we all do get together tomorrow evening then I'll take pictures and blog about that as well. I'll probably have my laptop on me so I can do a semi live blogging like I did tonight. Which means that even thought everything is being posted at once quite a bit later than when I was doing the cooking/baking/whatever, I typed up these paragraphs as I was doing the things that I wrote about. I do apologise though because I know how boring/tedious it can be to be reading only text, especially for a food/cooking blog. I personally think it should be against the law to print recipes without photos. One that note, I'll see you tomorrow (or later).
*Home Home- For those of you who don't know, I'm 21yo and live with my younger brother in a teeny tiny flat. That is referred to as "home" and that's where I'm making this now. "Home Home" refers to the house in the country where I grew up (from age 9-18) and my parents and older brother live. I tend to do my big cooking experiments there because if something goes wrong my Mummy can usually help me out.
I usually use the JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix because it is idiotically simple. It really is idiot proof. The pictures will show you. It comes with three packages inside and they're labelled 1, 2 and 3 just so you don't mix up the order you're to use them in. After having some errands to run tonight I finally get home and I'm ready to bake or not bake as the case is. What do you know, the measuring cup and 1tbsp measuring spoon is dirty in the sink thanks to my brother who never sees the need to wash up his cooking (and by cooking I mean box mac and cheese) utensils when he's going to leave the house. It's not like I'll need to use the things.
So I begin this adventure with my ingredients, my JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix, 1-1.5cups "cold" milk, 5-tbsp melted butter, 2-tbsp sugar and my utensils, my bowls, my spatula, measuring cup and spoon (which I have just washed), my foil muffin pans layered with my very cute "cupcake" baking cups. When I saw them today I just had to buy them, they were too cute not to have and it's 75 in a pack so they will definitely last a while. And of course a glass of red wine because it's so much more fun to cook with wine.
While doing step one which is mixing the crust I think that I must confess that the crust is my absolute favourite part of the cheesecake. Without a doubt, it is just so delicious. On pretty much all cheesecakes. I have yet to taste a crust that I've disliked. To do the crust all you do is mix the "Step 1 Crust Mix" with the sugar and melted butter until properly mixed and then you use the crust to cover the bottom of the backing cups.
The "Step 2 Filling Mix" is now added to the bowl of "cold" milk and mixed. The instructions say to use a mixer to do the mixing but since I don't have one of those I'm relying on some good old (wo)man power, elbow-grease and my trusty whisks. I have a slight obsession with whisks. Right now I only have two but every time I see one I have to stop myself from buying it. I'm using my small one now to whisk the mix together. The recipe calls for 1-1.5 cups of milk and I used a little over the 1 cup mark because the last time I made it the filling was a little too goopy for my liking. The box also says that the filling will be thick, I have yet to see that so I'm going to just keep on whisking until hopefully it thickens.
Wow, they should have just told you to leave it alone for a little while. I left it to type up the last paragraph and I go back to it and it's like cement. Well not quite obviously but it was pretty thick. That definitely did not happen the last time and I'm pretty sure I used a mixer because it was when I was at home home*.
I spooned the filling on top of my yummy crust and then use the spatula to smooth out the top. The box then advises that I refrigerate them for an hour before putting the strawberry topping on. I decided that I was just going to leave them in the fridge overnight and decorate them tomorrow. Either on my own or with my other friends in the evening I guess. I'm not exactly sure what the plan is but I'll find out eventually.
The pictures I took I'll post them tomorrow (or later) when I've done the decorating with filling part. That way there will be a photo of the finished product as well.
If we all do get together tomorrow evening then I'll take pictures and blog about that as well. I'll probably have my laptop on me so I can do a semi live blogging like I did tonight. Which means that even thought everything is being posted at once quite a bit later than when I was doing the cooking/baking/whatever, I typed up these paragraphs as I was doing the things that I wrote about. I do apologise though because I know how boring/tedious it can be to be reading only text, especially for a food/cooking blog. I personally think it should be against the law to print recipes without photos. One that note, I'll see you tomorrow (or later).
*Home Home- For those of you who don't know, I'm 21yo and live with my younger brother in a teeny tiny flat. That is referred to as "home" and that's where I'm making this now. "Home Home" refers to the house in the country where I grew up (from age 9-18) and my parents and older brother live. I tend to do my big cooking experiments there because if something goes wrong my Mummy can usually help me out.
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