Homemade Italian Cream Soda

Hi guys and welcome back to It's Always Sunny! I'm actually posting something! A real post! Yesterday I tried out a recipe for Italian cream soda that I found on this blog. I love Italian cream sodas as much as the next girl, but ordering them from an Italian restaurant can get pricey. And Italian restaurants are few and far between in my town. Needless to say, it was delizioso!

Italian Cream Soda: Adapted from Butter, with a side of Bread

Makes one serving

Ingredients...

- 1 cup club soda

- 4 tbsp. strawberry flavoring syrup

- 2 tbsp. vanilla flavoring syrup

- 1 tbsp. half & half

- Ice cubes (if you feel so inclined)

Let's get cookin' good lookin'...

1. Pour 1 cup of club soda into a cup

2. Add your flavored syrups (my favorite combination is strawberry & vanilla)

3. Stir

4. Right before serving, add in ice cubes and half & half (the half & half creates a really cool marbling effect!)

5. Voila! Delicious Italian cream soda.

Final ruling...

This soda is a close second to my all time favorite carbonated beverage, Dr. Pepper. And that's saying a lot if you knew how much I drink Dr. Pepper. In short, this drink is awesome. Pure strawberry & vanilla awesome.

Until next time,

A

Kern ernd Cherkern Cherder (a.k.a. Corn and Chicken Chowder)

Speaking like that will really never get old. Never. Ever. I will be getting married and say "er der" instead of "I do". That is how much it means to me.
But now to the main point of the post, I have been pestering my mom to let me cook dinner so I can blog about it. And there is something with me and cooking soups that just makes me happy and my family not so much. I just like stirring things I guess. I found this recipe through foodgawker, and adapted it according to what I like and what we had (I'm terrible at making grocery lists because I always get too lazy to check if we have a certain ingredient and then assume we have cayenne pepper when we really haven't ever owned any...)

Corn and Chicken Chowder: Adapted from Buns In My Oven

Makes a ridiculous amount of soup that could feed a village

Ingredients...

- 30 ounce can of corn

- 6 slices of bacon, chopped

- Half a medium bundle of green onions (separate whites from greens)

- 3 medium potatoes

- 1 medium onion

- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

- 3 cups whole milk

- 2 cups (one can) chicken stock

- 1/2 tsp. all spice

- 1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

- 1/4 tsp. shichimi togarashi (red pepper mix), you can also use cayenne pepper

- 4 ounces green chiles

- 2 cups shredded chicken (I sauteed my own but you can also use rotisserie store bought chicken)

- Salt and pepper

- Garlic salt

- Grated cheddar cheese (garnish)

Let's get cookin' good lookin'...

1. In a large pot (you'll only be using one pot the whole time so make sure it's a large one) fry the bacon.

2. Remove the bacon from the pot once it's crisp and set it aside. LEAVE THE DRIPPINGS IN THE POT.

3. Peel and chop the potatoes into bite sized pieces.

4. Chop the green onions super thin, making sure to separate the greens from the whites.

5. Place the potatoes, chopped onion, and chopped green onions (the white ones... wow that sounds confusing) in the pot and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until onions are soft.

6. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

7. Pour in the milk, chicken stock, all spice, thyme, parsley, shichimi togarashi, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

8. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

9. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.

10. Add corn, chicken, and green chiles.

11. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

12. Garnish with any extra onions, bacon, or cheddar cheese.

13. Voila! Delicious soup.

Final ruling...

This has to be my second favorite soup I have ever made. My first favorite is chicken alphabet soup and that will be making an appearance on the blog sometime in the near future. It's hearty enough to be a meal, but I paired it with bacon sandwiches anyways. Because my dad loves bacon. There are enough leftovers to feed me for days and I have a feeling it will be one of those "even better as leftovers" meals. It's a lot of prep but it's totally worth it!

Until next time,

A

Sea Cucumbers

Warning: These are not actual sea cucumbers. Do not be alarmed. They are soaked in "sea salt" though and me being witty and everything, I must call them sea cucumbers. Okay.

I love cucumbers, oh my word. My grandma Miyake has been feeding me these babies, prepared the exact same way, since I was a baby myself. They're ridiculously simple to make and so extremely healthy for you. This is barely even a recipe because it is just so darn easy to do, but you wouldn't believe how many people stare at me like I'm crazy when I tell them my favorite food is "cucumbers soaked in salt water" (i.e. Frances).

Ingredients...

- Cucumbers

- Salt

- That's it

- That's all you need

- So easy

Let's get cookin' good lookin'...

1. Wash your cucumbers, you can use as many or as little as you like.

2. Peel them in long STRIPES. Do not peel off all the skin, that would make them mushy.

3. Slice them (see picture above for thickness) into little disks.

4. Place all the cucumber disks into a size-appropriate bowl and add enough water to completely cover them.

5. ADD TONS OF SAAALT. By tons, I mean completely cover the top of the water with a sheet of salt. Do not tread lightly, it gets watered down in the huge bowl and you need a lot to make a difference in seasoning. DON'T FRET, KIDNEYS.

6. Mix until the salt is evenly distributed throughout the water

7. Soak for an hour or more, depending on how soft/firm you want them. Just feel/taste as you go.

8. Voila! Delicious (healthy) cucumbers!

Julia Child will roll over in her grave when she realizes HOW EASY THIS IS. Next time you have leftover cucumbers from a salad you made, try this out. Do it. Please. I beg you.

Until next time,

A

Frurzern Yergert

My friends and I have this thing where we pronounce regular words like we have a weird foreign speech impediment (Corn= kern, Potato= perterter, People= perple, etc. etc.), hence the title. This morning we (my family and I) went to this frozen yogurt place called Tutti Frutti. Frozen yogurt is the "in thing" now I suppose, with a new shop popping up every day. I have never really liked yogurt, I am more of a sherbet/ ice cream person. However, the toppings at Tutti Frutti are amazing. They have everything you could ever want. EVERYTHING. So I did not object.

My dad asked me "So, are you gonna have any yogurt with all those toppings?" No, father, no I am not. I did have a little bit of cheesecake and cookies and cream yogurt. But I was there for the unhealthy candy things, mostly. They had a soy bean flavor which sounded cool but I was not feeling too adventurous. Also, this happened...

IT IS AN ALIEN. THERE HAS BEEN A KIWI ALIEN INVASION IN TUTTI FRUTTI HAWAII. GUYS, PHONE THE PRIEST BECAUSE THIS IS A MIRACLE OF THE GODS.

But anyways, it was good. The owner was friendly and it was clean and not crowded. I would definitely recommend it to anyone on Oahu.

So, have a great remainder of the weekend (not that it matters because EVERYONE IS ON BREAK AND I AM NOT UGHHHHH) and I will see you all tomorrow with another edition of Music Monday!

Until next time,

A

Pretty Food

I think I have mentioned numerous times my love for food. I like eating food. I like making food. I like photographing food. I like food. But Vimeo User "tiger in a jar" takes food videography to a whole new level.







I highly highly HIGHLY recommend you watch these videos. They put food network to shame. Just the imagination and effort put into each video is inspiring. Plus, how can you go wrong with videos about food? You can't. That's right. It's not possible.
Have a happy Tuesday!
Until next time,A

Impromptu Cookie Baking

That's right guys. I didn't have anything planned for the blog today, so when I heard my mom mention baking cookies I immediately jumped up from my permanent post on the couch and screamed a war cry that sounded something like "I WILL BAKE THEM!!! I WILL BAKE THE COOKIES!!!" So I scrounged up an old recipe that my mom got from her college classmate and baked "Mrs. Fields Cookies." We were out of some of the ingredients though, so in true Tim Gunn style, I made it work.

The recipe. It originally made 112 cookies, but I cut it in half and made around 40. Maths.

The oat "flour". It is just good ol' Quaker Oats ground up in a food processor. Yum. Horsey food.

Wet ingredients sans eggs and vanilla.

Everything except the chocolate. Geeze, looking so appetizing.

Two different kinds of chocolate= one really delicious cookie.

Pre-baking. Golf ball sized beauties.

Post- baking. This cookie is happy to be a cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Adapted from Mrs. Fields recipe
Makes around 40 puffy 2 inch by 2 inch cookies

Ingredients...
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 and 1/2 cups uncooked oats
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 12 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips
- 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Let's get cookin' good lookin'...
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put oats in a food processor and grind until they are the same consistency as flour. Set aside.
3. Grate semi-sweet chocolate into thin short sticks. Set aside.
4. Cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a blender.
5. Add in eggs and vanilla to the blender.
6. Fold in flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and baking soda by hand.
7. Mix in milk chocolate chips and grated semi-sweet chocolate.
8. Form golf ball sized dough balls and place them 2 inches apart on an unbaked cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 7 minutes.
10. Voila! Delicious cookies.

Final ruling...
They are delicious. The semi-sweet and milk chocolates go together wonderfully. The oats add awesome texture, even though I was initially iffy about using them. And served warm, these cookies may be on top of my favorite cookie list. They're easy and quick to make, and I didn't even have to go to the store for extra ingredients. I am a happy girl.

Until next time,
A