The Magic of the Potato

The Potato has to be my FAVORITE food in the world! And so versatile... I love sticking them in the microwave and eating them for lunch, with lots of butter and cheese. YUM! Then I make potato sushi, by tearing the potato skins in strips, filling them with toppings and rolling them up! Or you can do the healthier baked Potato with Cottage Cheese in it. Another delicious thing to make are French Fries. I made them for dinner last night, which we ate with pork chops. You just take 3-5 potatoes, depending on how big they are, and how many you make, and chop the potato in 4 sections, then cut from there to make them "French-Fry-ey" You set the oven for 425 degrees F, put the fries on a cookie sheet with Tin Foil and Pam (They will stick if you don't pam-ify them!) And cover them with salt, pepper, E.V.O.O. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil From Rachel Ray) and a little Canola Oil. Bake them for 15-20 minutes, depending how soft you want them.
I wonder how many potato dishes there are. Hmmm....
-Baked
-Twice Baked -
-Microwaved (I guess the same as baked, but still kinda different!)
- Au Gratin
-Mashed
-Fries
-Hashbrowns
-Breakfast Potatoes...
-And I can't name any more. :]
But it is a magical vegetable!!!!!!!!

Slime Cupcakes :]

Yesterday, I decided to make Red Velvet Cupcakes! Yum! So I'm making them, and the batter is tasting really yummy, and I go to put the red food coloring in. Uh-oh. We have no more red food coloring! So, unlike a sensible person who would just leave them normal chocolate, I decide to make Blue Velvet cupcakes. I go, humming, and put in a teaspoon of Blue Food Coloring. When I started mixing, it turned a horrible olive/blue/poo color. BLECH! But, nothing I can do about it, so I stick them in the oven, and they turn out looking crummy, but still tasting yummy. So I go to make a Buttercream frosting. We have no powdered sugar. So I look up this French Buttercream that takes normal sugar, but you have to dissolve it in oil in a saucepan, then pour that in with whipped eggs and butter and VOILA! Buttercream. It didn't work for me. I got this horrible egg mixture, that I fixed with a lot of brown sugar and flour. :] It tasted okay, though you can feel the sugar when you eat it. But I go, and I put green food coloring, and because of the brown sugar, I got a Vomity Lime Green! Plus, the frosting was slightly runny, and just dripped don my cupcake, like slime. They look disgusting, but taste good. I plan on making them for Halloween. :} Here is a delicious Red Velvet Cupcake recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 1/2 Cups flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1/2 cup Baking Cocoa
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 Sticks of Butter at Room Temperature
- 5 Large Eggs
- 1 Cup Buttermilk (See note at bottom)
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 Teaspoon Red Food Coloring


Combine Salt, Flour, Cocoa, Baking powder, and Baking Soda in a large mixing bowl. Sift 3 times.

In a seperate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add eggs one at a time, making sure to mix well after each one.

Add 1/4 of Dry ingredients to mixture, then 1/4 of buttermilk and so on. Mix Well. Then add vanilla and food coloring.

Fill lined cupcake holder 1/2 full of Red Velvet Batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, or until they're all the way cooked.

Wait to cool, then frost.

NOTE: If you don't have Buttermilk, try this subsitution: Add 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice or White Vinegar (I didn't have either, so I used a combination of White Cooking Wine, and Red Vinegar and it worked great) to a cup, then fill the rest of the cup with milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Gabby and I am 13 years old. I am about to begin the 8 grade. My dearest ambition is to be a Pastry Chef. If I could have lunch with any famous person, it would be Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss, my favorite TV show. I would love to work at Carlos Bakery, but I live in Salt Lake City, not New York City. Same difference though, right? I want to go to Culinary School in Paris, or else go to Harvard. :] Told you I was ambitious. When I grow up Iwant to open a Pastry shop with my sisters (now 11 and 4) called Sweet Sisters. Cheesy, right? But other than bake, I love to dance, play tennis, play piano and draw.