Oat Cakes

I only have two cookie cutters at my new place, a ghost and a heart--- so given the choice and being in a hurry to bake these suckers I went with heart shaped christmas cookies. These little treats are great for dipping into chocolate, or with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. They are buttery and crisp and just the perfect blend of salty and sweet. The best part is you can make a huge batch ahead of time,refrigerate them, and then throw them into the oven 30 mins before your guests arrive.



Brown Sugar Oat Cakes

1 1/2 c cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 c. Dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 c. All purpose flour
2/3 c. Quick cooking oats

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

2. Combine butter,brown sugar and salt in a food processor, pulse until butter, sugar and salt are combined but not completely smooth.

3. Add flour and oats. Do not overmix.

4. Roll out on floured surface and cut into bars or use cookie cutters.

5. Refrigerate cookies for at least 20 mins on cookie sheets.

6. Bake at 300 degrees, 15 mins in the lower third of the oven and 15 mins in the top third.

They should be dark brown and once cooled will be super crispy. And amazing.



Kitchen Ninja Out.

SHARKOWEEN - a guest ninja posting

The reason we're all such terrible bloggers is because we have friends, and lives outside of the Internet craftosphere. One of those friends is the EPIC JKWW. She recently had a shindig that was so amazing that the Kitchen Ninja had to have it on the blog... Here it is, put your fins together for JKWW!!!









Shark-o-Ween

Greetings Craftacopians!

The Kitchen Ninja has graciously invitied me to share the sharktastic silliness my hubs and I (OK, mostly I) offered up to our friends on Halloween this year.

See, I love/hate sharks. I love them because they are awesome, but I hate them because they are scary and give me nightmares. Seriously. What's scarier than sharks? And what better way to celebrate their awesomeness and scariness than a shark-themed Halloween party?




I made some of my favorite simple appetizers, and came up with sharky new names for them.

Like...

"We're Going To Need a Bigger Boat" Bruschetta




1. Cut up a narrow baguette.
2. Stack up some fresh basil leaves on a cutting board, roll them up lengthwise, then use a sharp knife or scissors to slice them into little ribbons (rolling the leaves up tight is key to thin, pretty herb ribbons).
3. Slice up some fresh tomatoes and some fresh mozzerella into disks. (Hey! Didn't Kitchen Ninja make HOMEMADE mozzerella?).
5. Stack cheese, tomato, and basil ribbons onto your bread slices, drizzle with olive oil, shake on some salt and pepper, and then toss them in a 350 degree oven for just a couple of minutes. Just until the cheese gets a little melty.

You could also whip up some

Fried Shark Fins (aka: Cranberry Cream Cheese Wontons)




* Ninja's Note - Turn on your stove top exhaust fan as soon as you start heating the oil for this. I have never made this recipe without filling the apartment with smoke. The oil gets hot quickly, and frying without the benefit of a deep fryer is smokey business. But soooooo worth it.

3/4 package (8 oz size) fat free cream cheese
3 TB chopped dried cranberries (I like mine berry-er, so I add like 1/4 cup, but the recipe called for 3TB)
2 TB finely chopped chives
3/4 tsp minced gingerroot
1 TB minced parsley
Salt&Pepper
24 wonton wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
Veg Oil for frying (NOT olive oil)
store-bought jalapeno jelly or tamari sauce

1. Mix cream cheese, cranberries, chives, ginger, and parsley in a small bowl, season with S&P.
2. Spoon 1/2 TB of filling onto the wonton wrapper, brush edges of the wrapper with egg white. Fold wrapper in half and press edges to seal. Repeat until you've used up all the filling and wrappers.
3. Heat 2 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a large saucepan. Fry wontons, a few at a time, until golden - 1-2 minutes. Drain onto paper towels. Serve with dipping sauce.

*Frying tip from my fave Alton Brown - throw and unpopped popcorn kernal into the oil to test if it is hot enough. If it pops, you're ready to fry. If it turns brown or smokes, the oil it to hot. If it just sinks, the oil isn't ready yet. Careful, though, an oil super-hot kernal will fly out at you if it's good to go :)

We also made "Fish are Friends, Not Food" veggie sushi stacks





A tower of blue sharky cupcakes




And some *KILLER* shark fin ice cubes in some nice blood red sangria. (get your shark fin ice cube trays at Perpetualkid.com).



A good time was had by all! (OK, maybe AugDog would have preferred a different costume).


But we did get to play games like Name that Shark




And our friends dressed in costumes and one friend brought us a Sharkolantern! A Very Happy Shark-o-ween to all!

xoxo
NerdyNinja

Screenprinting on the cheap

Ever wanted to make a sweet t-shirt? It's easy y'all! All you need is:
1) embroidery hoop
2) mod Podge
3) gauze fabric
4) paint brush
5) fabric paint
6) sponge brush

Below is a screen print design I'm working on. First, I copied a silhouette of a peacock with some 1920 flourishes. After copying the design on to the gauze, I then painted mod Podge glue onto all the spaces that I did not want fabric paint to get through.












Then, sponge paint onto the fabric using your dried screen-printing design.
























How awesome are these??

Go forth and screen print!

Kitchen (sometimes screen printing) Ninja Out.

Cinnamon Rolls for my Mama

Yes, Kitchen Ninja has a Mama Ninja, and she turned 50 yesterday! Woo hoo! There was even a piñata, which mama ninja refused to destroy because it was "too pretty". She said,"if you want candy you'll have to dig it out of there without breaking it". That's just crazy talk.

Speaking of crazy, these cinnamon rolls are CRAZY GOOD!!


Here's the recipe:

CRUNK! CINNAMON ROLLS

Dough:

2 packages of rapid rise yeast
½ cup warm water
1 cup scalded milk
½ cup sugar
1 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
8 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
2 cups brown sugar, plus more for pan
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
½ cup pecans
½ cup raisins
½ cup butterscotch schnapps (or rum)

Glaze:

½ cup melted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Warm schnapps slightly in a small bowl, add raisins, set aside.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside.

In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg.

Add 4 cups of flour and mix until smooth (sort of slurry-like). Add yeast mixture.

Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle, it should remain a pretty soft, wet dough.

Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle.

Spread melted butter all over dough.



Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with pecans and raisins. Drizzle a little schnapps on the filling for good measure. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal.

Cut into 12 to 15 slices.



Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 2 hours, or overnight. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.



Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Spread glaze over slightly cooled rolls.




Ta-da! Delicious. My Pops said they're better than Bette's, and if you've ever eaten a cinnamon roll from Bette's in Hood River, OR you better believe that those are both fighting words AND high praise.

Yeah Bette's- I'm coming for you.

~ Kitchen Ninja OUT.

Location:SW Durham Rd,Tigard,United States

babies and stuff

a friend at work is having a baby boy...Adam. i have a baby boy...Ethan. i made E's crib quilt. he doesn't use it. it hangs on his wall. since then i have made him a crocheted Oswald. that's it. Adam officially has more stuff made by me (6) and he isn't even here yet and E only has two things made by me and he is THREE! here's what I made for Adam and hopes that i try to have more homemade lovin' for my own...cute little airplanes

paper airplane time
they did the nursery in airplanes...i just flew with it!

firefly fans of course!

firefly again...

to go with...

sis is 4...and soooo excited!
my other friend at work made cute ruffle socks and bows to match this shirt

for mama...a ring sling. wish i had a better picture but i was in a rush.
i made the tree design and added t-shirt material in green to the inside for optimum baby comfort.

this is what we've been doing...
our halloween village...again wishing i had taken a better picture!

okay...since the baby craze is over maybe i'll start on something for my own kiddo...

- the mama ninja

How to: take 13 people camping

I am exhausted. In the emotionally, mentally, physically kind of way.

So, what better time to blog, eh?

The past two weeks have been ( and will continue to be) insane. I've been off camping in the woods with 10 of my students, am moving, getting ready for the worst planned audit ever, farming, getting ready for a friend's visit, a camping trip to see Dave Matthews and Ben Harper and potentially sleeping in the midst of all this.

Which brings me back to blogging. I searched high and low for a helpful page somewhere that would assist me in packing and planning food for this trip. No such luck, which is why next time you take 10 teens, 3 adults and 3 dogs camping come here first. I've got this down.

THE GEAR:

Camping stove and propane
Grill
Griddle
Pan
Soup pot
Coffee pot
Skewers
Marshmallow roasting spikes
Metal spatula
Metal tongs
Sharpest knife you can find
Pot holders
Tents
Sleeping bags & pads
Water cooler
Three coolers
Camping chairs
Foil
Zip locks
Wet wipes
Paper towels
Trashbags
Toilet paper
Sunscreen
Bug spray
Aloe
First Aid Kit
Flashlights
Lanterns
Scrubbing brush
Dish soap
Cord for washing line
Hammer/mallet for tent spikes
13 plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery(awesome enamel sets available everywhere)

THE GRUB:
6 loaves of bread
20 hotdog buns
13 tortillas
12 English muffins
2 boxes Graham crackers
3 bags of marshmallows
20 Hershey bars
12 chicken breasts
6 multi-color peppers
1 pineapple
4 boxes jumbalaya rice
1 bag coffee
1 box Swiss miss
1 container lemonade mix
2 packets bacon
4 dozen eggs
1 quart milk
6 onions
4 sticks butter
1 jar peanut butter
1 jar jelly
1 bottle olive oil
13 potatoes
13 corn cobs
20 bratwursts
1 block sharp cheddar
1 container thin sliced turkey
2 large bags salad mix
2 cantaloupe
1 watermelon
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

THE MENU:
Monday Evening - chicken kabobs and rice, salad, s'mores, coffee or cocoa

Tuesday Morning - bacon and eggs on toasted english muffins, cantaloupe, coffee.

Lunch- sandwich & fruit

Dinner - bratwurst, potatoes wrapped in foil and cooked on coals, corn halved and steamed in pot. Salad. S'mores. Cocoa.

Wednesday Breakfast - breakfast burritos filled with egg and potato hash using left over corn, potatoes, onions and any other veggies and cheese. Cantaloupe and watermelon.




The camping stove is a lifesaver in the mornings, for coffee and boiling water for dishes.

We also went through 12 cords of wood in three days. Perhaps a bit excessive, but the kids loved sitting up to the wee hours chatting around the fire.

Overall, an excellent trip, and now with my handy planning list I know what to pack next time! : )

The list is your friend.

Kitchen Ninja Out.

bombs away!

what's that you say? it's almost fall? time for bomber hats!!

credit where credit's due: the pattern comes from threadbanger.

ingredients assembled and pattern cut:


also, things that make me an idiot? on a list - not paying attention to how many of what pieces i need and cutting two of pieces i only need one of. such a waste!

pieces pieced together:


ready for tassels:


finish it off, and hat complete!


i didn't take a lot of photos of the process...i had already made one previously that didn't turn out nearly as well. i attempted to enlarge the pattern as i was cutting out, which made the hat WAAAAAY larger than needed. and crooked. see?



i promise it's not just his head that make the hat look strange. it's the hat that makes the hat look strange. :) anyway, this is me...signing off. i'm working full-time, schooling full-time and have a 15-hour-a-week practicum that i have to do...so you probably won't see me around these parts often. good thing kitchen ninja has our backs with updates.
dang!
j.me

"it's my party, I can make cheese if I want to"

And, so I did. Four gallons of mozzarella. The only question, why did I wait so long to try this? On a sidenote, I'm lactose intolerant. Funny, right?

On to the cheese making.

You will need:

A lot of pasteurized (NOT HYPERPASTEURIZED) milk (at least a gallon)
Rennet tablets
Citric acid
Cheese salt
A big ol' pot
A slotted spoon
A thermometer
Rubber gloves ( very important)
A microwave safe bowl



Pour the gallon of milk into your big pot.

Heat milk to 55 degrees.

Dissolve 2 tsps of citric acid in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to milk once dissolved. Stir like crazy.

Wait till milk hits 88 degrees. It should start curdling and look like this




Then, dissolve 1/4 of a rennet tablet in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to milk and stir again. Keep stirring. The curds and whey should start separating.




They should look like this. Take milk mix off heat once it hits 100 degrees. Wait until whey is clear before scooping out the curds into your microwave safe bowl.

Now, put on your gloves.

Squeeze out any excess whey. Then, microwave for 35 secs on high.

Knead like dough.

Microwave again for 35 secs. Add cheese salt now. Knead.

Microwave for one minute, cheese should feel like taffy. Stretch it, and then either roll it into a log, or into tiny balls.

Drop into ice cold water/salt mixture ( aka a brine).




It'll look like this.


Mozzarella. Then, eat it. We had it in pasta...


And on pizza. And just fresh.

It's easy, it's impressive, it's delicious. It takes less than 30 mins from start to finish.

Go forth and make cheese.

Kitchen ninja out.

Location:Snowden Rd,White Salmon,United States

How to refinish a table and make the perfect bite

You should all get to meet my dad. There is nothing he loves more than a project ( please refer to my Pa's Day Pie entry and the prototyping we did ALL DAY- which was fun). So, when my mum bought a worktable for $20 and I mentioned wanting to refinish it for my new apartment, my dad said " well, I've got news that will make you happy, there's an orbital sander WITH sandpaper sitting in the garage". Of course there is.

So began the sanding project.




This was about 2 hours in.Whoever owned this sucker before lacquered it to hell and back. I will not be surprised if the table is 20x lighter when it's all done.

After about 6 hours of orbital sander bliss, I got to staining. I chose a cherry stain, mostly because I'm not a fan of light colored furniture, and also because I NEEDED to stain.




Stained! Sidenote, if you haven't youtubed Stains + Cupcake...do it now. I'll wait.




Wasn't that awesome? Anyway, then I sanded again, this time with 120 grit (fine grit sandpaper)
And then, polyurethane!




Isn't it pretty?


The polyurethane is a satin finish, so once it dries it won't be all that glossy.

On to the perfect bite.




Today I harvested 1 medium zuchinni, 1 med patty pan squash, and 10 almost ripe cherry tomatoes. I made 1 bag of cavatappi pasta, sliced and then sautéd the squashes, tossed in the pasta, salt, pepper and 1 small log of goat cheese. Garnished with the cherry tomatoes and BOOM! The perfect bite.

Which I will now return to.

Kitchen Ninja out.