Categories
Twitch Streaming

Berry bran muffins

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berry salad with candied mint and a puff pastry arlette

This was one of those “everything that could go wrong, will” kind of streams.

Somebody… not naming any names… kept us both awake super late because he (again, not naming any names) got sucked into watching God of War streams on Twitch and wouldn’t stop talking to the other member of the couple about it. So we got to bed around 4am.

So of course we woke up late, had trouble getting our butts in gear because we were tired, and then started way too late.

mixed berry bran muffin

I had originally planned to make this fruit salad. And then I looked in my fridge right after Son clicked “Start Stream” in OBS (the stream management program we use), and discovered that my greek yogurt had gone bad.

Crap.

So I ran back to my computer and scrambled for a replacement… and finally found a custard recipe that looked like it would be a good replacement.

Okay. Everything else should be fine, right?

bran muffin top with fruit

A few days before, Son asked me to make some extra fun components for his plating “art” portion of the stream. We were browsing through Payard Desserts and he saw some things he wanted me to try. So before the stream I candied some mint (which actually turned out fine). I also attempted to make something called arlettes – pretty much mini elephant ears/half-sized pamiers. Those went… poorly. So I threw the actual instructions out the window which involved rolling out slices of refrigerated rolls of puff pastry, and just baked the slices as is. (Which worked fine, but… still not how they were supposed to go.)

What should have been a two- to three-hour stream turned into a five hour stream.

cranberry sour cream bran muffin

But! We made muffins and they were delicious! It’s berry season, and I’ve been trying to find some healthier breakfasty things, so bran muffins it was. I found this recipe for bran muffins on Smitten Kitchen, and in it she also linked to an older recipe for sour cream bran muffins on her blog that she said was a lighter version more suited to bran newbies.

bran muffin top with fruit

For the first recipe, I used a mix of fresh berries – two raspberries, one raspberry, half a blackberry, and a few pieces of diced strawberry in each muffin. I also topped half of the muffins with a few pieces of semi-sweet chocolate, which let me tell you, was an excellent decision that I highly recommend. Thanks to the liquid from the berries, this actually turned out to be a very moist, tender muffin – not the dry, dense texture you might expect from a bran muffin. They were delicious, and of the two, my favorite.

puff pastry arlettes

The sour cream bran muffin recipe called for dried fruit, so I used dried cranberries. Like the first muffins, I also topped half of these with chocolate pieces, which again was a wonderful decision. These were not as tender as the first recipe, but were still delicious. Thanks to the cranberries and cinnamon in the recipe, these taste like Christmas to me. Definitely more of a fall flavor, but I’ll happily eat these year-round!

bran muffin top with fruit, topped with an arlette

Today’s Question of the Day: What is your favorite type of muffin?

Visit my Twitch stream to catch up on past streams, and hang out when I’m streaming! Want to know when I’m in the kitchen? Hit the follow button (the heart up top) so you’ll get notifications when I’m live – it’s always free to follow! Or you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter, where I usually post when I’m starting the stream.

Categories
Twitch Streaming

Spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

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spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

For the last five months, five days a week, I’ve been cooking something different every day for my Twitch stream. It’s been an amazing experience, and I’ve gotten to cook so many things that have been on my “to cook” list for years.

spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

At first, we went all out. But after a while, I realized that the decadent lifestyle – roast duck, bolognese, ramen, etc. – just isn’t sustainable for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed all the crazy fun things I’ve gotten to make. (And no worries… it’s not stopping anytime soon!) But the start of streaming coincided perfectly with me entirely stopping working out (due to both how busy streaming kept me at first, and also an intentional break to let some injuries heal). Not great.

spinach shakshuka

I’ve realized I (and my body) are happiest when I get a healthy, filling breakfast. I can eat random shit the rest of the time, but as long as I get a good breakfast, I’m good to go.

spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

So that, and an overabundance of spinach in my fridge that needed to be used up, led to today’s menu – two healthy, filling, spinachy, and hopefully tasty breakfast options.

spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

The first recipe is a chickpea, spinach, chorizo frittata. Not the easiest to make from scratch in the morning, but if you can manage it ahead of time (over the weekend, maybe?) it’s easy to reheat a wedge on a weekday morning. On its own I found it to be a little one-note (although definitely filling and fairly healthy), however with a dollop of your favorite salsa, it’s exxxxxcellent. 4 out of 5 stars, would make again.

spinach shakshuka

As for the second recipe, which was a green shakshuka recipe… I’m gonna go ahead and chalk it up to use error. Even though it seems like something I would love, and I’ve made things from Jenny and Teri’s blog before that turned out great… I was very much not a fan of this dish, so I’m going to assume I took a wrong turn somewhere.

Regardless… the frittata was great! And we’ll try out a more traditional shakshuka recipe one of these days. Can’t win ’em all.

spinach, chorizo, and chickpea frittata

Today’s Question of the Day: What is your favorite savory breakfast? (Even better if it’s healthy – I need breakfast ideas!)

Visit my Twitch stream to catch up on past streams, and hang out when I’m streaming! Want to know when I’m in the kitchen? Hit the follow button (the heart up top) so you’ll get notifications when I’m live – it’s always free to follow! Or you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter, where I usually post when I’m starting the stream.

Categories
Twitch Streaming

“Vampire Slayer” Ramen

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RAMEN!!!

deconstructed ramen

I’ve been wanting to make ramen for years. Years and years and years. And ever since I started my Twitch cooking stream, it’s been one of the top things on my list of todos.

ramen

It would’ve been easy to be paralyzed by “which one to make?”, or, “which ramen should be my first?” But when I came across a recipe named the “Vampire Slayer Ramen Express”, from the excellent Mandy of Lady and Pups, it went straight to the top of my list.

I mean, look at all that garlic. I don’t even care if it’s not traditional, it had to happen.

deconstructed ramen

I got a head start on Saturday’s stream (ramen prep in lieu of our usual Sushi Saturday), so with the ramen eggs marinating, menma cooked, and chicken broth already in the fridge, finishing the ramen was a neat five-hour stream. (If I’d tried to do it all in one day… it likely would have been closer to 24-hours.)

The chashu was a simple sear, then stick it in the oven and wait. Since I had two and a half hours to kill, I tried something else I’ve been wanting to do for years… milk tea! (No boba this time, only because it was a last minute addition to the menu and I had none in the house.)

I used this Milk Tea recipe from Chichilicious, which was basically just very strong black tea, plus sweetened condensed milk. Oh so good. 10/10, would make again.

ramen

So on a massive caffeine and sugar high (wheee!), I made the garlic powder, garlic oil… and then finished up the ramen!

The biggest question from our chat is… was it worth the two days of work?

Both Son and my answers? A resounding YES.

Holy cow, it’s so good. (And SO garlicky. You definitely have to love garlic to eat this ramen.) While the chicken broth by itself was surprisingly light yet flavorful, the broth itself is thick, has an fantastic depth of flavor, and is so rich that you can’t eat more than one bowl. Exactly what you’d expect from a good bowl of ramen.

And when you add in all the other toppings? EVEN BETTER. The menma turned out deliciously, I’m still swooning over the ramen eggs (I don’t think I can make soft-boiled eggs any other way now), the chashu is oh so good, and I love that the garlic oil and garlic powder add EVEN MORE LAYERS OF GARLIC.

(There is no such thing as too much garlic.)

deconstructed ramen

Also, since I’m writing this the next day, I can tell you that leftovers? Also excellent.

I may have to go steal another ramen egg from the fridge.

Today’s Question of the Day: What is your favorite kind of ramen?

Visit my Twitch stream to catch up on past streams, and hang out when I’m streaming! Want to know when I’m in the kitchen? Hit the follow button (the heart up top) so you’ll get notifications when I’m live – it’s always free to follow! Or you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter, where I usually post when I’m starting the stream.

ramen