Talk & Taste

Hiatus

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:00:48 -0400

Sad news, guys - Hilary and I are taking a little hiatus from Talk & Taste. Following last week’s technology snafu, we decided it was a sign to take a break and focus our energy on our last month of school. Unfortunately, it’s also our last month of living together =(

Don’t fret, though! We promise to make at least one final episode to close out the series. See you soon!

Sabotage!

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:08:45 -0400

Apparently technology is against me. Once again, the footage from this week’s T&T deleted itself during the transferring process… Sad day. Unfortunately, Hilary and I can’t show you the delicious Greek salad we made =( Here’s hoping that next week runs smoothly!

Episode 13!

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:23:18 -0400

Episode 13!

Baked Pasta in Garlic Sauce

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:23:12 -0400

Hey everyone! This week’s recipe comes from my friend Kayci! She made this pasta dish with her roommate, and seemed to really enjoy it. As a bonus surprise, it’s vegan! You can use any pasta you like - Hilary and I used gnocci, and that turned out pretty well. Here’s the recipe:

Baked Pasta in Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

1 bag of pasta (any kind you’d like; 14 oz)
1 bunch of spinach
1 block of silken tofu (12 oz)
2 heads of garlic
1/4 cup oil (olive or canola)
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

First, bake the garlic, as this takes much longer than everything else. Peel all of the cloves of the 2 heads of garlic and remove their tough bottom tip. You can lessen the amount of garlic if you think it will be too much - we did.

Bake them at 400F for 30 minutes loosely wrapped in aluminum foil. When finished, they should be slightly softened, light golden in color, and much sweeter and less pungent than raw garlic.

While they are roasting you can prep everything else. Boil the pasta until soft, then strain.

Wash the spinach well and remove the bottoms of the stems. Chop them to the preferred size - I like pretty small pieces, but remember they will shrink when cooked.

Once the garlic is all done roasting, throw it in a blender along with the block of tofu, oil and salt, and blend it.

Mix the pasta, spinach and garlic sauce all together in a large bowl or pan.

Put it all in a casserole dish and bake it at 350F for about 15 minutes, or until the top is beginning to look crunchy and baked.

ENJOY! Email us recipes at hilcait@gmail.com!

Bed forts and cupcakes!

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:16:33 -0400

Bed forts and cupcakes!

St. Patrick's Day

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:16:29 -0400

Hilary and I had a pretty busy weekend, so we didn’t get to make a traditional recipe video. Instead we made a bed fort and ate the cupcakes that I made while HIlary was gone! I made Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes according to this recipe: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/comment-page-2/. They use Guiness in the cake batter, whiskey in the chocolate ganache filling, and Baileys in the buttercream icing. This is a seriously decadent cupcake, and I’d highly suggest checking it out for yourself. See you guys next week!

MAGIC Cookie Bars!

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:09:57 -0400

MAGIC Cookie Bars!

Magic Cookie Bars

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:09:52 -0400

This week’s recipe comes from my friend Gray! She used to make this snack with her mom (mother-daughter bonding!). These cookie bars are extremely sweet, so make sure you’re ready for the sugar rush. This recipe was super easy to make, so if you’re looking for a quick and creative snack, try this out!

Magic Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 cup crushed Kellog’s Corn Flakes or Graham Crackers (We used Corn Flakes)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped nuts
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or any flavor morsels you want)
1 & 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Crush Corn Flakes. Mix Corn Flakes/Graham Crackers, butter and sugar into a 9x13” baking pan. Use the back of a spoon to form a crust.
Sprinkle nuts over crust.
Sprinkle chocolate over nuts.
Sprinkle coconut over chocolate.
Pour milk over everything.
Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.
Cool and enjoy!

Send recipes to hilcait@gmail.com (just in case you couldn’t understand Hilary in the video, haha!).

Spring Break = Cookies

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:34:21 -0500

Spring Break = Cookies

Spring Break Cookies!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:34:17 -0500

Hilary and I just celebrated spring break. In order to capitalize on our 7 days of intended relaxation, we wanted to do as little work as possible, which means store-bought cookies! No recipe to post this week - just go out and get some cookies at the grocery if you want a quick and easy snack! Yum!

Blueberry pancakes!

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:12:27 -0500

Blueberry pancakes!

Blueberry Pancakes

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:12:21 -0500

After Capri sabotaged our original recipe for this week (homemade mac & cheese), Jennifer suggested a simple blueberry pancake recipe to take away the pain from losing our footage. This recipe was super quick and relatively yummy. We were told to let the batter sit for an hour, but we skipped that step and the pancakes turned out fine. The original recipe can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/todds-famous-blueberry-pancakes/detail.aspx.

Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons white sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat together egg and milk. Stir milk and egg into flour mixture. Mix in the butter and fold in the blueberries. Set aside for 1 hour. (We went straight to the griddle)
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

See you next time! Email recipes to hilcait@gmail.com.

BAKLAVA!

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:18:04 -0500

BAKLAVA!

Baklava

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:17:57 -0500

This week’s recipe was another great suggestion from Hilary’s sister Audrey. We made baklava with our remaining phyllo dough, and let me tell you, it was delicious. Afterwards, we froze it, and it was even more amazing. Seriously, freeze the leftovers uncovered (if you have any) - you won’t be disappointed. The original recipe came from here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baklava/

Baklava

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz.) package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts (try walnuts or pistachios)
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

ENJOY!!! Also, send us recipes at hilcait@gmail.com =)

Valentine’s Special!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:29:43 -0500

Valentine’s Special!

Valentine's Special!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:26:00 -0500

Sadly, Hilary and I could not film an episode this week because my amazing friend Jennifer was out of town - she operates camera 2 and provides the audio for our vlogs. Like I said, super talented and kind woman here. Anyway, Hilary and I made a short video just to keep you guys satisfied. Hopefully we’ll see you next week! Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day!

Episode 9 - Greek week!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:12:43 -0500

Episode 9 - Greek week!

Spanakopita

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:10:00 -0500

This week Hilary and I made another recipe from the lovely Michelle. It was my first time using phyllo and working with egg whites - woohoo! We both thought it turned out alright, but in hindsight, we’re not too sure about eating it as a leftover - not so appetizing the second time around. This could be good for appetizers at a party, though!

Spanakopita

Ingredients:

2 pounds spinach
8 oz. feta, crumbled
8 oz. cottage or ricotta cheese (we used ricotta)
salt and white pepper, to taste
6 eggs, separated
8 oz. butter, melted
8 oz. phyllo pastry dough

Directions:

Clean and chop spinach and place in a large mixing bowl o Add feta, cottage/ricotta cheese, salt and pepper to spinach .
Add egg yolks and mix thoroughly .
Beat egg whites until stiff, then fold into spinach mixture .
Grease a 9 x 13” pan and place 6 phyllo sheets into pan, brushing each with melted butter .
Spread spinach mixture evenly over sheets .
Cover spinach with 6 more sheets of phyllo, brushing butter on each sheet .
Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Happy Wednesday! Email us at hilcait@gmail.com with recipe suggestions - something with phyllo would be extra useful ;)

Episode 8 - more blueberries!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:59:07 -0500

Episode 8 - more blueberries!

Blueberry Dessert Pizza

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:58:00 -0500

Hey all! This week’s recipe comes from Teri, a tumblr blogger that Hilary follows. Her recipe looked great here: http://spoonforkbacon.com/2012/01/blueberry-dessert-pizza/. Sadly, ours didn’t work out as well. It’s quite possible that we overcooked it. However, give it a try if you’re into cheese and fruit!

Blueberry Dessert Pizza

Ingredients:

1 12” ready-made pizza crust
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup blueberry jam
1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Place cream cheese and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir together until well combined.
Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the surface of the crust.
Next, spread the blueberry jam over the cream cheese mixture.
Sprinkle the mozzarella over the jam, followed by the fresh blueberries.
Place the pizza directly onto the oven rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and bubbles and the blueberries just begin to juice.
Allow to cool for a few minutes, cut and serve.

Hope yours turns out better than ours did! Email us at hilcait@gmail.com with recipe suggestions!