Bon appétit!

Today is Julia Childs birthday! What an inspiration this lady was, and so funny too.  She always made me want to cook something grandiose and magnificent.

What the fashionista too! Even at 6 feet 2 inches, she regularly wore heels.  What a presence she must have been to be around!

I really must invest in her first set of cookbooks and add them to my collection.  Her Boeuf Bourguignon recipe is to die for (pre-pescatarian days I made this quite regularly).  Here is the recipe for you meat eaters, you must try it.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-Volume/dp/0307593525

Follow my Instagram @justmeaghan to see what I whip up tonight! Happy Cooking!

Recently in Instagram

I fiiinally got an iPhone a couple of weeks ago and absolutely am loving Instagram! It's so fun, I especially love the early bird setting.
So here's some shots from recently..

Puzzles, baking lemon cookies, hunting for pine-cones, decorating, shopping, and drinks with my Love... these are a few of my favorite things and all that has been accomplished lately!

Follow me on instagram! :)

@mmulligan

Gobble Gobble!

I am thankful for help in the kitchen!!  Up until this morning I was planning on braving the outside world and going out for Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend, his mother and brother to a local restaurant.  How weird that would have been after growing up always helping my Mom to peel the potatoes, stir the cranberry sauce, set the table, make the rolls, etc.
But last year I had no help, granted I have a galley kitchen so it is quite awkward for more than 1 person.  Needless to say I was not exactly thrilled to be preparing myself for another 8 hour day of standing and cooking, alone.
My future mother in law proposed to help (Yes! :) and is bringing the Turkey, Bread, and is ready to help me peel, slice and stir.  I am so grateful for her offer and am excited to cook up a yummy meal tomorrow in her company.
Enjoy your holiday everyone, and don't get to crazy with the Black Friday Shopping! ;)

Cheesecake Flan Recipe

Happy Friday everyone!  I promised this recipe to my readers a while back here.

Cheesecake Flan

This is soooo easy to make and tastes super yummy too.  I am NOT a fan of the Flan served at Mexican restaurants but with the cheesecakiness of this it's just perfect!  I haven't made it in a while but definitely will be this weekend.  It's great to make in ramekins too, cute individual little flans. :)
Ingredients:

5 eggs

2 8oz cream cheese

1 can sweet condense milk

sugar ( to eye I never measure just pour an amount as to how much caramel you want)

water ( for caramel a little bit like 1/3 cup )

milk ( you will pour milk in the can of the condense milk once empty

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
There are 2 options to make the  caramel.  If you have an oven safe pan where you are making the flan go ahead and make directly there, if not use a pot to make the caramel then pour it into your pan.  Melt the sugar with the water until a golden color over low to medium heat, stir continuously.  This needs to be constantly watched.  
You can start to mix your wet ingredients in a blender while melting the caramel.  Once your caramel is ready, fill another oven safe pan and add water to it for a water bath, be sure not to fill it too high that it comes up over the pan you are cooking the flan in. 
Next pour the wet ingredients, over the caramel in your pan and bake for 40 minutes.   It will need less time if you go with ramekins, to check if it's done slide a knife in the center it should not have any of the egg mixture stuck to it when you pull it out.  

Once done remove the Flan pan from the water bath and insert a knife around the edges to separate it a bit.  Cool for about 20 minutes and then put it in the fridge until you are ready to serve, and once ready place a plate over the pan and flip, be sure it is deep or big enough to hold the caramel as it will be liquidy.  Allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving, 20 minutes is ideal.

Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Doggie Biscuits

So I have had a dog bone shaped cookie cutter I've been holding on to for a couple of years now and finally have made the time to use it for the dogs.  (It made a few sugar cookies last Christmas for us :)

Here's the recipe I used, everything organic of course!

Mix together 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 tbsp baking powder, add in 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of milk.  Mix everything with your hands, yup get in there!

Flour your surface and roll out your dough ball.

Cookie cut away!

This recipe made almost 50 biscuits, they are obviously edible for humans, although they don't taste so great.  Maybe with more peanut butter they would be better if you were trying to make them for you and your dogs. :)

"Come on now Mom! This is not funny! Give me the cookie! NOW!"

Bone Appetit Pups! :)

Flan is my new favorite thing to make.

This is not your usual flan. A lot more cheesecakey and oh sooo good! Here's the recipe!