Connor Yesterday after class, I went home and used the cookie recipe to make cookies for my family. I made them with dried cherries instead of chocolate chips though, because we didn’t have any chocolate chips. They turned out very well but I did have a few problems. Since I made them as drop cookies and not uniform sizes, two of them weren’t done when the others were. My mom now decided that I need to make cookies for when we have family over for Easter. She wants me to make peanut butter cookies and snikerdoodles because they are my grandmother’s favorite cookies. So then yesterday, I was looking for recipes a found a few good ones on the food network’s recipe. Also, my grandmother recently bought a bread maker so now she has been sending us all these recipes she’s wanted to try. She has already made three loaves of Italian bread and sent them to my aunt. For Easter she is making wheat bread and cinnamon raison. She thinks that she is going to use the cinnamon raison loaf for a strange bread pudding she found online. She always brings bread pudding to holidays because she says it is a family tradition but no one ever eats it even her. The recipe she found involves all these weird savory spices like; coriander, savory, sage and paprika but she insists it is a dessert.

I have always had a love for ice cream. Whether summer or winter, night or day, I am always in the mood for this icy treat. Some of my favorite flavors are vanilla and cake batter. One of the reasons why I love this treat so much is because of all of the flavors. Now a day, you can find anything in ice cream from waffle cones to cake to even bacon. Not only the flavors themselves but also toppings. I would have to say that I like a lot of different toppings but my favorite is anything with chocolate. Chocolate chips, Oreos, brownies, peanut butter cups, I like them all!

                As much as ice cream from the grocery store is good, there is nothing better than going to the ice cream shop. The one thing that sets the store apart from any regular gallon in your freezer is the soft serve. I love soft serve vanilla! I like the soft texture of it. The ice cream shop across from St. Rose has great things called avalanches that are pretty much soft served ice cream mixed with any kind of topping you like. Places like Peach Wave are great too (however I don’t quite like the taste of frozen yogurt as much).  My absolute favorite place in the entire world to go to no matter what season it is is Cold Stone Creamery.  They have the best cake batter ice cream I have ever tasted. It doesn’t get better than some cake batter ice cream with brownies and Oreos.

                As much as I love cake batter ice cream, I cannot drive down to Danbury every day and get it. Making homemade ice cream always seemed impossible to me. I never had an ice cream maker so I always turned away recipes that required one, however a couple of weeks ago, I bought an ice cream maker. After looking up a couple of different recipes I found one that seemed good. One of the things I didn’t like about this cake batter ice cream recipe was that you had to heat it up and then completely cool it. This took a very long time and I am pretty impatient. I found a different recipe the next time that didn’t require heating it. After tasting both, I would have to say that they tasted exactly the same and it was much easier to make the second one. Here is the recipe for the second one:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk, well chilled

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream, well chilled

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup cake mix

Directions:

1.       Place freezer bowl of ice cream maker into the freezer. It is better to keep it in there 24/7 that way it is always ready.

2.       In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

3.       Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste.

4.       Stir in cake mix, making sure there are no lumps.

5.       Pour mixture into the freezer bowl and let mix until it has thickened (about 25-30 minutes).

6.       Remove ice cream from freezer bowl and place into a separate container.

7.       Place freezer bowl and the ice cream into the freezer to further harden.

-Christina Moore

This week my friend Gill and I decided we really wanted to bake a home made pizza. We went to the store together and bought all the ingredients we wanted to put on the pizza like tomato, mozzarella cheese, garlic, broccoli, onion, and other vegetables. We didn't know how to bake our own dough so we bough whole wheat dough at the store. We got home, rolled it out, put all of our toppings on it and baked it. It was one of the most delicious pizza's I've ever had, probably because everything was so fresh! Now that we have learned in class how to make pizza dough we will try it next time using that recipe for dough. Cant wait! -Natalie P.

Coffee has a very distinct aroma and flavor and today it is one of the most consumed drinks all across the world. It is made from the roasted seeds of a coffee plant. This plant is mainly found in Latin America, Southeast Asia, India and Africa. Coffee is something that many people need to get through their day. This is because of all the caffeine that it contains and the energy that it gives people for their everyday lives. Coffee has been around for about 500 years now and as time goes on so does the love for the hot drink.

Over the weekend I had this cheeseburger from a restaurant near Sacred Heart University. It was possibly the best burger I have ever had. The reason this is, is because the way it was prepared and cooked to perfection. I ordered it medium rare and they cooked it absolutely perfect. Then the chef melted cheddar cheese and then followed three crispy onion rings. Then three slices of bacon, a slice of lettuce then, topped it off with the fresh bun. When I took the first bite of the burger I tasted heaven in my mouth. The Onion Rings gave it that extra crunch and flavor, along with the lettuce giving it extra crunch for that mind blowing bite. He used cheddar cheese which you could actually taste when you chewed. And the base, the burger couldn’t have been cooked any better. This was possibly the best burger and I thought I’d share with you what made this ultimate dinner so good! Tim K

BAKING HAIKUS

Cookies:
Soft, warm, and gooey
oatmeal, chocolate chip
cookies are the best

Brownies:
Yummy chocolate
Brownie mix baking in oven
I can't wait to eat

Cupcakes:
Sprinkles and frosting
on top of a mini cake
made by the dozen

Blueberry Muffin:
Healthy, sweet muffins
with bright blueberries inside
I ate half the batch

Pancakes:
Circular, golden
with maple syrup on top
I can't get enough



Emma B

Last weekend, my mom and I went to the mall and she found a short rib sauce for her slow cooker and she made that last night. The recipes was for short ribs over mashed potatoes so, I took the mashed potatoes portion band she handled the ribs. I made homemade mashed potatoes with just plain old Idaho potatoes but I put some of the short rib juice in there to flavor them at the end. Finally, my mom made sauteed spinach and carrots with time as a side dish and they were very good. She likes to make that a lot because she had it at a restaurant in Hartford but it was actually on a pizza. It was a like thin sliced carrot and spinach pizza and now she makes it without the pizza. Personally, I love to have spinach cooked down with; red pepper flakes, garlic, shallots and a little feta cheese. I came up with it one day when I was home alone and wanted to have a healthy lunch. I love a lot of garlic so I instantly grabbed that and since I had no proteins I just grabbed a tub of spinach. The recipe is actually really simple, I put some oil in a pan and brown up garlic and shallot, then I add; salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flake. Finally, I put the spinach in until it is cooked down and add toasted almonds. Today, I was driving into school with my mom and she said she wanted to go to Figs this weekend. She went a few weeks ago and said that it was very good. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me any reviews or what they might serve to see if I want to try it. I haven’t heard anything about it from anyone but my mom and she really isn't a great critic, she doesn't ever like to say negative things. We once went to this really bad restaurant in Brookfield and when my dad asked if she liked it all she said was that the menu looked very nice. So, I was wondering if anyone could help me get an idea of what Figs serves and how the actual food is. Connor L.