Smoked Almond Butter

Recently I have been putting a great deal of effort into graduate school applications and will be for about the next month and a half therefore posts that I do make will likely be focused on easier recipes that will not take a long period of time to make or blog about. After this period of time I am hoping to really focus on creating and polishing old recipes that I have made and publishing those. So this week I made Smoked Almond butter. It is a simple recipe that allows for a variation of the typical peanut butter that most Americans eat and it is very easy to make.

Smoked Almond butter

smoke 'em if you got 'em

Ingredients:
1 lb smoked almonds
2 tsp cane sugar
4 TBSP vegetable oil

Directions:
pour almonds and sugar into the bowl of a food processor
Process almonds and sugar while slowly adding the 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the processor bowl (my food processor has a oil drip reservoir which is perfect for this and making dressings) until creamy (I like mine chunky so I did not process it as much as some may prefer)

Suggestions:
spread on multi-grain bread and pile bacon, pears, and provolone cheese or a smoked Gouda then toast the entire sandwich. (pictured below)
serve with salmon and alfalfa sprouts on a nice roll with a tiny amount of cream cheese.

Almonds and sugar in the bowl

I like mine to look like a deli mustard

A double layer of pears

A layer of bacon on top of a layer of cheese

I call this one "Sandwich in the setting sun"

Cranberry Mint Vodka

I have been quiet busy recently with attending and hosting parties and other gatherings thus I have not been doing many posts recently however today I am making up for it by posting three posts so look out.

This first one is a really basic infusion that I made for a holiday party. Again I cannot stress how easy infusions are to make and the flavors that can be created are truly remarkable in that they offer new life to a perhaps otherwise dull drink. The infusion I made this time is a Cranberry Mint Vodka. I decided on these flavors as mint is a nice crisp and refreshing flavor while cranberry is an old standby for being paired with vodka with its tart but sweet taste it is quiet good for mixing with alcohol.

Cranberry Mint Vodka

Refreshing twist on Vodka

Ingredients:
750 ml vodka
1 oz fresh mint leaves
1 cup cranberries

Directions:
Wash cranberries and mint leaves in cold water and place in an empty 750 ml bottle
pour vodka into the bottle using a funnel
store in a cool dark place
shake every day for a week
after one week discard the mint leaves and place cranberries in a container
crush cranberries with a pestle
strain cranberry pieces out and combine the two liquids
serve chilled

Suggestions:
Freeze cranberries before putting them into the bottle to allow more color and flavor to seep into the vodka
serve as a cocktail (pour 4 parts soda water, 1 part cranberry juice, and 1-2 parts infused vodka [depending on the desired strength of the drink] over a combination of crushed ice and mint leaves and garnish with additional mint leaves [or for a surprise a basil leaf].

Mint is in the bottle

Cranberries and Mint now

This is the Vodka after a week as you can see it looks kinda yellow not the desired red

Time to crush some berries

This is what it would look like with the crushed berries in the bottle
I recommend straining before making drinks as it is easier

Spinach Artichoke Heart Ravioli

This week I made homemade pasta. This is a time consuming process especially if you do not have specialized equipment. The pasta specifically was ravioli with a spinach artichoke heart filling. I also made chicken thighs with a white wine pan sauce and herb garlic bread and served it with a ceasar salad.

As an update for news about the blog. I will most likely be taking a break from the blog for about a week or two to focus on other work. If I do post it will be quick recipes. Anyway now on to the recipe

Spinach Artichoke Heart Ravioli

A nice vegetarian-ish dish ("ish" due to eggs)

Ingredients:
Pasta recipe found HERE just doubled and run through a pasta machine and cut into about 1.5 inch squares

Filling:
1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup onion minced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup artichoke hearts
1/4 cup spinach (torn into small pieces)
1/2 cup mushrooms minced (I used portobello)

Instructions:
Prepare the pasta Dough as directed then run dough through pasta machine twice on each setting until about 1.5 millimeter thick (mine is a 7 setting model with 7 as the largest I went 7 through 5)
Cut pasta into 1.5 inch squares.

1. take one square and place a small amount of the filling in the center of the square (about 1/2 tsp) 
2. place a second square of pasta on top and seal the edges
3. crimp edges with a fork 
4. Repeat until out of pasta pieces

Refrigerate pasta (at least 20 minutes) to ensure that they have sealed and to allow flavors to meld in the filling
boil in salted water for 7 minutes
drain then place on a baking sheet that has been greased spread remaining filling on top and bake at 400 degrees F for 6-10 minutes until Cheese has melted

Suggestions:
put all of the filling ingredients into a food processor and grind it up very fine for an easier time filling
Serve with a parmesan cheese sauce, vodka sauce, mushroom cream sauce or an artichoke spinach cheese dip.
Instead of baking the Ravioli toss it in bread crumbs and fry it to get a nice crispy outside

Top view of the filling prior to spinach and mixing

Filling mixed together

Pasta sheets

Part way through making the ravioli

Filling on a pasta square

Boiling away

All set to bake

The complete meal

Bonus recipe
Chicken thighs and mushrooms
4 chicken thighs (if very large butterfly to ensure complete cooking)
3/4 cup mushrooms sliced (I used portobello)
1/2 cup White Wine (I used pinot grigio)
1/4 cup onion sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sage
Salt and pepper to taste

Pretzel Wands

With October being a thing and me being involved with various activities I am changing my regular post time to be Sunday evenings in the central standard time zone. This will hopefully give me more time to actually dedicate to writing posts when I have days off of work.

This week I decided to try out how well pretzel wands work with a hard candy top versus the more traditional chocolate confection. I got the idea while searching web for food things. I found a cool idea for candy apples that looked very cool (found here) which is basically melting down jolly ranchers and coating an apple with them while mixing in some food safe glitter to make it look amazing. so I thought to myself that looks magical... That kind of magic would be amazing in a wand... maybe one that you could eat... short hair is great... OH! Pretzel Wands! (I was getting my hair cut at the time).  Anyway I journeyed forth to find the materials for wand making searching at multiple shops and heroically avoiding children trying to sell me popcorn.

Also this week I used a double boiler for melting candies down. This is a method of heating ingredients that tend to burn or scorch when in a pot that has direct heat applied to it. A double boiler used a lower pot with water in it to boil and produce steam which rises and heats the upper pot/bowl allowing for a much more even raise in temperature making it easier to deal with ingredients that are easily burned.

Pretzel Wands

Not to be used for casting real magic

Ingredients:
Jolly Ranchers (or other hard candies or you can make your own hard candy and flavor/color it as you wish)
Pretzels (I went for the hand sized pretzels as these would be good for kids)

Instructions:
unwrap hard candies and place in a metal mixing bowl or the top of a double boiler pot.
add water to the bottom pot and heat allowing the candies to melt.
dip in pretzels and begin turning while still in the same vertical position as when you dip to retain the candy on the pretzel tip
spin until the outer surface is semi-hardened or hang so that the candy dipped end is above a greased sheet of wax paper and adding candy coating as desired.
allow to harden and enjoy.

Suggestions:
mix different colors or create your own hard candy with cool colors to allow for more distinct wand tips
add food safe glitter for some razzle dazzle to your wand
If you want to get really fancy you could make mini staffs with candy crystals held in place by a different color of hard candy. (I would suggest using rock candy for the center.)
get pop molds that can safely handle heat and fill those with hard candy then use the pretzel as the stick.

Green because I did not get enough purple 

This is how I double boil

I'm melting! MELTING!

oh look another use for an ice cube tray how cool

just a pic of the tip

Here come old flattop

Soy Pops MK-1

First before I talk about this post I feel the need to apologize for last week's post not going live. I thought that it would given that I scheduled it for 12 pm CST. I had written the post earlier in the week and later on reviewed it to make sure that it made at least some sense during which I saved the post as a draft so that it would be easy to access. Anyway I forgot to publish the post from its draft form so it did not post even though it says that it was posted at that time. Again apologies.

Now on to this weeks post and additional news. This week I have been rather busy with various things including working and being social with people. So I wanted to do something that was quick this week. Also, at least in the upper Midwestern states, there is a cold front coming this week. I thought that this is basically the last chance for me to do a post about something cold and feel that it is somewhat fitting to the season. finally I had just gotten the molds the previous week so I wanted to try those out to see how well they worked [you know if they would break or not {they did not}]. This week I decided to do Soy Pops. The idea behind this was to have a cream pop like treat that was healthier than eating ice cream. With the recipe that I made I will provide suggestions for changing the recipe. 

New kitchen stuff!

Soy Pops MK-1

The purpose of this is to have a homemade healthy sweet treat that is similar to a cream ice pop.

Ingredients(makes 6 servings):

1 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp coco powder

2 tsp brown sugar (for a molasses flavor alternatively you could substitute buckwheat honey or molasses instead)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

blend ingredients in a bowl or shake in a jar/bottle [I shook them in a bottle because it looks better for the blog. If you are using either buckwheat honey or molasses instead of brown sugar I would recommend blending it]

pour into molds

place in freezer and wait until a hard freeze has occurred (I just waited a day before having mine)

Suggestions:

add peanut butter and blend the ingredients

For a coffee flavor add up to a 1/2 cup of coffee to the ingredients

if you like things that are sweeter add more sugar

Ingredients used other brands are available.

This is buckwheat honey sorry for the potato-ish quality of the picture

Ingredients in a bottle

Mixture poured into the molds

Ready for the big chill

BAM! SOY POP!

The different topics covered and a basic plan for the future.

Hello everyone, my name is Andrew, the creator of The Bored Bachelor. A blog dedicated to food and food related topics. There will be eight different types of posts here at The Bored Bachelor.

The first type will be called "Spread 'em". Spread 'em will focus on dips sauces and spreads to be used with a wide verity of foods. Spread 'em will have at least one sub-category called "A&J's Nut Butters" which will focus on gourmet and flavored nut butters.

The second type of post will be called "Harmony". Harmony will focus on dishes and whole meals that are balanced in taste. Most posts will have a theme to them (e.g. specific ingredient, taste, color, etc.) Additionally Harmony will also have a sub-category named "Elements" which will focus on dishes with the themes of the elements of eastern medicine and classical Greek element beliefs. More specifically the elements will be water, earth, fire, air, wood, and metal.

The third type of post will be called "Well Bread". Well Bread will focus on breads and pairings of bread products.

The fourth type of post will be called "Alcoholic Andy". Alcoholic Andy will focus the creation of alcoholic spirits, infusions, and cocktails.

The fifth type of post will be called "A Sweet Surprise". A Sweet Surprise will focus on confections and candies.

The sixth type of post will be called "Science Slice" Science Slice will focus on food science and ways in which food and cooking can be used to explain other topics such as chemistry and physics.

The Seventh type of post will be called "Experimental Empanada" Experimental Empanada will focus on foods that do not fully fit into the above categories or are experiments in cooking without recipes made with them.

The eighth and final type of post will be called "news" which will surprisingly enough be related to news about the blog including schedule changes and if anything else really excited happens to me related to food or the blog.

Okay now that we have the general idea of what kinds of topics will be covered I can talk more about what the format of the blog will be like and the schedule for the blog at least for the month of September 2014. For September 2014 I am hoping to have a weekly post but I am also starting a new job and am unsure if I will be able to continue to keep up with posting. In general I will try to take pictures of the ingredients as well as most if not all steps in the cooking process. I will also try to have a good version of the recipe in the post along with some explanation of the inspiration of the recipe. Ideally I would like to include methods of changing a recipe to accommodate food allergies and preferences in each recipe, but I cannot guarantee that I will have the time or forethought to do this.

Finally some information about me. My parents claim that I have been cooking since the age of two, in which I was frying garlic powder on the stove. I have always loved food (although not all food when I was a kid) and have enjoyed cooking for a great many years (and yes, I am old enough to buy and consume alcohol). I do not have formal training in cooking and I am also not the best writer as I am sure you can already tell. I try to have fun with cooking and insert jokes in posts so that they are more enjoyable to view. I hope that you enjoy my blog.