Wild Rice Cakes

Upon discovery of a neat little list of all the WoW foods in the game, I decided to embark upon one dish in particular. Wild rice cakes. Yum. My reasoning for this is I have friend who is a vegetarian. He and his girlfriend are trying a lot of my recipes, so I figured this would be acceptable for them. Plus any of my other friends who don't eat meat. This recipe was graciously adapted from Epicurious.

6c (or more) canned vegetable (or chicken) broth

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1c chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/3c long grain white rice

1/3c wild rice
1/2c dry white wine (Don't use cooking wine; too much salt.)
1/4c coarsely grated low-fat mozzarella cheese
1/4c sharp cheddar cheese

1/3c plain dry panko (or bread crumbs)
1/4c grated Parmesan cheese

Bring the broth to a boil, remove from heat, then cover.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; saute until tender then add garlic. Stir frequently to avoid burning.

Add white rice and wild rice; stir 1 minute. 

Add wine, cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in 2 cups warm broth, bring to boil. 

Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Repeat and stir occasionally until rice is tender.

Uncover; simmer until rice is tender and broth is absorbed, stirring often and adding broth by 1/4 cupfuls if rice is not tender, about 10 minutes longer. Stir in mozzarella; season with pepper. Cool until you are able to handle the rice easily with your hands.

To bake: 

Preheat oven to 375º F. 

Take a muffin pan and spray it with non stick cooking spray. Sprinkle panko and Parmesan cheese in the bottom of each cup. Take a heaping spoonful and gently pack it into each cup. Top with more panko/parm mix and bake for 20 minutes.

To pan fry:

Make patties of rice and place them in the panko/parm. Coat both sides.

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat and place the rice patties into the pan. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Drain well on paper towel.

Muffin pan Rice Cakes.

Update O_o

I'm slacking big time, I know I am. But with good reasoning.

I am gainfully employed. Okay that started yesterday. My other reasoning is because I've been terrible about getting to bed at a decent hour. Insomnia has kicked my butt hardcore this time around. I've been up until 4, 5, or 6, every morning for past two weeks. Ugh.

Slowly getting out by forcing myself to stay awake in hopes to reverse the reversed schedule.

I'm gluing the topper pieces to my staff today and foaming it. Also found out that my sewing machine is considered vintage and parts aren't made for it anymore so it's going to sit in my closet until it becomes an antique and I'm looking into a newer non-vintage model.

I've also got several more ideas which now I'm grateful I have a job so that I can actually press on with these ideas. One of which is a Tardis dress, complete with light up hat. Another is a faery costume idea this time with butterfly styled wings.

Food wise, I've got a whole slew of new recipes coming up. Darkmoon Faire goodies in which I will be experimenting with making a root beer syrup that can be added to Seltzer water. Yayness.

Keep an eye out for more updates, I'll get back into the swing the of things.

Excited!

There was something posted on the press release about cooking in World of Warcraft. We will be able to make customizable meals! This excites me so much because now I can make stuff up on the fly and learn new recipes to cook. Horray!!

In other news, I am currently working on several recipes at once. Most of which are Darkmoon Faire fare! Yum. You can look forward to me creating Corn-breaded sausages in which I will get my six year old to help me make. Sarsaparilla Sinkers, which he will also help me make and finally because it's faire food, what faire would be complete without funnel cake.

Also I will be posting up new progression pictures of my staff!

Gaelynae Delacroix AKA Bree

This is my worgen. She goes by the name Bree. Mostly because she feels her real name is far too unique for people to remember. When I made Bree, I had the story idea in my head that I wanted her to be a prostitute.

Bree was raised in Gilneas, a city which until recently was closed off from the rest of Azeroth. When the cataclysm came, and Deathwing shook the grounds, the wall around Gilneas began to fall. The Forsaken leader Silvanas Windrunner decided to be an even bigger bitch then she usually is and try to take the port city from the Gilneans. On top of this, the Gilneans were also dealing with feral worgen who essentially are werewolves. When the wall fell, the worgen got in and started to attack the Gilneans, biting and scratching as well as killing. Those that are left are able to transform between human and worgen. Gilneans kept their minds due to a tonic of sorts that restored it, but there is always the lingering fear that they will lose their minds again.

Bree grew up in a brothel in merchant square of Gilneas City Proper.  Her mother was a prostitute and her father, who is unknown, was a client of her mother. Growing up Bree did chores around the house and attended the ladies as way of keeping room and board. When she was old enough, Bree was told she could either do what the other girls did, or get out. Seeing nothing wrong with being a prostitute, she became one.

When the attack came, Bree lost her home, and all those she considered family. Setting out for Darnassus with those that were left, she sought to explore the world. Doing what she was doing to get through. Bree is bold, crass and tactless at some points. However, she does have compassion.

Currently, she has given up selling her body and is working with her boyfriend, Reno and his companion/partner in crime Helsey. The only thing that Bree and Helsey have in common is Reno, otherwise they despise each other. More recently Bree had been training and working with contracts all over the world to gather income. She uses seduction techniques, but never gets to the point of sleeping with.

Recovery part 2

Life is great until it's not. Right now it's totally not. My kidlet is sick. *frowns* He has bronchitis, a double ear infection and a sinus infection. He is well on the road to recovery but it's a messy road indeed. Until my little man is better expect fewer blogs for right now.

This also coincides with the fact I will be starting a new job. Ingredients are expensive! So I have decided to return to work to help pay for my cosplay and for my cooking hobbies.

I will keep posting, just not nearly as much. *sigh* Thank you all for reading and check back frequently for new posts.

Westfall Mud Pie

Today is March 14th. Also know as Pi day. And to celebrate pi day, I made a pie. Not just any pie. I made a Westfall Mud Pie. I'm not talking the dirt in a makeshift container that you used to feed to a younger sibling. I'm talking edible deliciousness in a pie pan.

Bonus to this. This requires NO BAKING! So don't preheat your oven.

Ingredients for the crust:

24 oreos or other chocolate and cream filled cookie, smashed.
1/4 c butter, melted. (10 second intervals in microwave, STIR!)

Using a food processor, or a rolling pin, crumble the cookies until you have a nice crumby mixture. Press into an ungreased pie plate

What you need for the the filling

1 pk of instant pudding/pie filling. Follow directions on how to make this
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 chocolate cookies (I used chocolate animal crackers) coarsely chopped.
1/2 oz white chocolate (optional) chopped
5 or 6 gummy worms

When the pudding is mixed until smooth, add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Should be lumpy. Pour into crust filled pie plate. Press worms in at various angles and places.

Topping

1 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c.whipped topping (like cool whip)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 c. powdered sugar

Blend by hand (this part is important so you don't have powder going everywhere!) the cream cheese, sugar and cocoa until smooth and well combined. Fold the whipped cream into it and keep stirring. It will be creamy and thick (and brown...pervs.)

Pour on top of pudding mix and gently spread it over the top. Add more gummy worms.

Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Craft A Staff Redo!

Today I finally got around to doing the new template for my staff and gluing it to the handle. It's turned out much much better.

The new plans took me a little while to figure out. But once I stopped looking at the pieces jutting off of it. It was simple to just draw the basic shapes. The next part was making the template larger, which I did out of poster board. From there I traced that shape on to foamboard. 

Foamboard is a pain in the butt to cut. But I managed it with a utility knife and an xacto knife. Still it was hard. After that, I hot glued the pieces on.

Letting this dry a a bit and the metal part to cool, before adding the foam. I'm pleased with the way the shape came out. I will probably have to take it down a bit, but I'll worry about that later.

One side foamed. Waiting the 4-6 hours for this to dry now. *siiigh* I'm so impatient. I can't wait for it to be dry and then I can start the fun part. CARVING!

Sin'dorei Crème Brulee

When I hear crème brulee, the beautiful, selfish and often misunderstood Sin'dorei come to mind. Perhaps this recipe will be enough to sweeten your tastes on them If not... well then you'll at least have a good dessert.

Unlike traditional crème brulee, this version will be made without a torch (but if you got one, use it.) It will also not have heavy cream. Heavy cream is hard to find in my neck of the woods, so I've whipped up this version after extensive searching on the internet.

You will need:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
5 large yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Granulated sugar for the topping

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Add all of the ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix well with a whisk.

Once mixed, pour the liquid into a large measuring cup and pour into your ceramic ramekins or other small oven safe dish.

Place the ramekins into a larger oven safe dish, fill half way with cold water.

Bake 40-45 minutes, until they are firm but wiggle like jello when you knock against the pan.

Remove them immediately from the hot water (this can be tricky!) and onto a small sheet pan

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, blot off any moisture with a paper towel.

Once completely chilled, take a spoonful of granulated sugar and coat the top. At this point you can use aforementioned blow torch or if you don't have one:

Turn on broiler, place baking sheet with ramekins into oven. At this point you will literally need to watch the crème brulee. Carefully turn the baking sheet 90º every 2 minutes. Once the sugar is nice and caramelized, remove from oven and serve.

Pre-caramelized topping

Mmm.

Runn Tum Tuber Suprise

It should come as no surprise that I use some recipes from The Gamer's Fridge. They are really really great recipes. On there is a recipe for Runn Tum Tuber Surprise, I made it that way, but I wanted to enhance that recipe further.

Pulled from the dirt!

4 medium baking potatoes
1 c of colby jack and mozzarella blended cheese, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp hot sauce
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1/2 c milk
1/4 sour cream

Preheat oven to 325ºF

In a small bowl, mix the salt, pepper and olive oil and brush that on to the unpeeled potatoes. Poke small holes in skin. Place on middle rack for about an hour.

Remove potatoes, let cool about 15 minutes before handling and use ovenmit to handle. Taking a sharp knife, cut a portion of the top off. Spoon the flesh into a bowl. Leaving 1/4 inch for stability.

Add butter, milk, sour cream, garlic powder and mix thoroughly. Mashing as you go. Add salt and pepper to taste as well as hot sauce. At this point you also want to add the hot sauce, you can add more if you like a kick or less if you don't. Mix until potato is orange.

Take half of the cheese and spoon about a tablespoon into each shell. Then add the mashed part back into the shell. Top with the rest of the cheese. Place back into oven for 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top.

Remove from oven and carefully serve.

Stormchops

Did you know that it's impossible to find a butcher that carries Clefthoof meat? Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue. Niki Casselberry over at The Gamer's Fridge seems to have the same issue in finding this meat. Which is where the stormchops recipe comes from. My recipe is adapted from hers, and trust me, they are both just as a tasty.


Ingredients!

4 large boneless pork chops (perfect substitute for Clefthoof meat.)

4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder 

2 tbsp hickory liquid smoke

4 tbsp  honey

In a small dish, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Place the chops in an oven save dish and pour the mixture over them. Marinate in the fridge, covered, for 30 minutes.


While they soak up all the yummy goodness, take this time to reflect... no seriously though, turn your oven to 400º F and then go play WoW until it dings that it's done. Which should be around the same time you need to remove the chops from the fridge.


Remove the cover and put these in the oven for 20 minutes (45 if you have bone-in chops.) Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temp, you are looking for it to be 145º. If there is still pink though, keep it in the oven a little longer. 


Once finished, take from oven; careful it's only slightly less hot then the fire elementals on Hyjal. Leavei t rest in the pan for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite sides or perhaps some Crystal Song Carrots and a Runn Tum Tuber Surprise.

Stormchop, Runn Tum Tuber surprise and Asapragus