today i realized that i had half of an avocado in the fridge and no bagels to put it on. so, with my recent success with pretzels under my belt, i decided to try make bagels. they ended up being just as easy and twice as delicious! just make sure you don't skip the boiling - an unboiled bagel is just a roll with a hole!

for eight bagels you will need:
4 cups flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
2 tsps. yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp. baking soda

mix a pinch of sugar, 2 tsp. yeast, and the warm water into a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.

add the yeast mixture to a large bowl with the flour, remaining sugar, salt, and oil and mix. pour the dough out onto a board and knead for 5-10 minutes.

cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and gently place into the mixing bowl. cover with a damp towel for 20 minutes.

take the dough and roll each piece into a snake, then twist the ends together to make a circle. make sure to try and cover the seams. let the bagels rise for another 20 minutes while you boil a pot of water with 1 tsp. baking soda.

preheat the oven to 350° F. when the water is boiling drop the bagels in one or two at a time and let boil for a minute. flip the bagels and let them boil for another minute. they should puff up and become shiny. transfer the bagels to a rack to dry off.

set bagels onto an oiled baking sheet (non-vegan: brush with egg before baking) and bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes. flip the bagels over and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

family photos

the past week i began taking on a job that will probably last for a few weeks. my mother literally had a 15 gallon rubbermaid storage bin crammed with loose photographs and negatives (as a photo major, i nearly had a heart attack). aside from a few rolls of prints still being in their respective envelopes, they weren't organized in any way. i started organizing them by decades and continued to refine down to chronological order. currently, i'm about 1/4 of the way through. i have one album from my mom's seventies and eighties heydays, one album from 1988-1991, and a box filled with studio and school photographs. while i was leafing through the photos, i threw out underexposed, irrelevant, or bent/torn photos, but did manage to keep a few that i liked for myself that would have otherwise been tossed.

homemade poptarts

poptarts are pretty great. the only problem is that it's becoming harder to find the ones that aren't covered in frosting. so i decided to make my own. the entire recipe only calls for 1 tbsp sugar but it does require two sticks of butter in order to get the flaky exterior, which evens out to approximately 2 tbsp. of butter per pastry. i'm no paula deen but that's not so bad.

you will need:
2 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 large egg
4 tbsp milk

combine flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. if using butter, cut the butter into pats. using your hands or a pastry cutter, add the butter/margarine to the flour mixture until only small lumps remain.

mix the egg and milk together and add to the flour mixture. stir until combined. pour out onto a surface and knead as necessary until the mixture takes on a doughy consistency that is able to be flattened with a rolling pin without crumbling.

separate the dough into two parts (for the tops and bottoms of pastries) there should be enough dough for about eight or nine pastries.


for the filling i took about a cup each of strawberries and blackberries and made a fruit sauce. add the fruit into a saucepan on medium heat with about a tbsp of water. stir continuously to prevent burning to sticking. once the fruit is soft, mash it with a fork and add about a tsp. of cornstarch until it has a jam-like consistency.

for a cinnamon filling you can also mix together a 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 tbsp cinnamon, and 4 tsp flour.

you could also use whatever jam you have in your fridge.

spoon the fillings onto the bottom pastry and cover with another. use fork tines to seal the edges of the pastries and use a toothpick to poke holes in the top to allow the steam to vent out.

bake on a greased sheet or a pan lined with parchment paper for 20-25 minutes at 350°F.

sweet basil ice cream

i've always wanted to try making ice cream but i've been a little hesitant because i don't have an ice cream maker and i'm not particularly interested in buying rock salt. but from scouring the internet for different methods i think i landed on a pretty good one that only requires a hand mixer (or a spatula, if you're up to the work-out) and a blender or food processor. i've been wanting to try basil ice cream in particular firstly because i love basil, secondly because i love unique and offbeat flavors (i plan on making avocado ice cream next), and thirdly because i've heard from friends how fantastic it tastes.

for 3 cups ice cream, you need:
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
a pinch of salt

bring milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt to a boil, stirring to keep the milk from burning on the bottom of the pan. once boiling, remove from heat and allow the basil to steep for 30 minutes.

pour the mixture into a blender or food processor and blend for about a minute until the basil is finely ground.

beat the yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl with a whisk or hand mixer and gradually add the milk mixture until combined well.

pour the whole lot back into the saucepan and heat until it is just about to boil.

remove from heat and pour the mixture through a fine metal sieve to strain out the thicker pieces, which can be thrown out. take the strained liquid and pour into a glass or stainless steel (freezer-safe) bowl and slowly mix in the cream with whisk or hand mixer.

tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set into the freezer for one hour.

every hour (for the next two or three hours) you need to take the bowl out of the freezer and mix it up before recovering and returning it to the freezer.

by mixing the ice cream every hour, you are preventing the formation of ice crystals and making sure that the ice cream is soft and creamy.

although it's suggested that the ice cream be allowed to freeze overnight in order for the flavors to mix properly, i'm going to be honest and say that i had to have a sample as soon as the ice cream had frozen!

diy stuff i love

lately i've been really into the idea of using old, refurbished wood and chalkboard paint in an apartment. in my last rowhome, my roommate and i had bought a can of chalkboard paint to use on the crummy party bathroom (the tiny one that was awkwardly located in the kitchen) but never got around to it. since then i've been itching for an excuse to use chalkboard paint. the only problem is that it can easily become too overwhelming. which is bad news for me because i like it on just about anything. here's a few uses for chalkboard paint (it's hard to choose just one) and various diys i've been looking at over the past week.

(via designsponge, re-nest)

twig pushpin diy (via designsponge)

chalkboard paint labels for jars (via re-nest)

diy paper frames (via designsponge)

(via abeachcottage, designsponge)

this old wooden ladder was hung from chains to create a pot rack. (via re-nest)

for those of us who still can't go anywhere without collecting "treasures" (patrick and me, for example) a designated board for your rotating collections (via designsponge)

this diy chalkboard would look great in a kitchen! (via ruffled)

diy wood cake stand (via oncewed)

natural wood stools/endtables are made modern with a little white paint (via curbly)

(via apartmenttherapy)

refurbished chalkboard door and chalkboard painted herb pots (via birdhouseinteriors, idoityourself)

carrot cupcakes with avocado cream cheese icing

it's a mouthful, i know. but they're sooooo good. i've tried and failed with a few different "avocado icing" recipes - most of them were too sweet, which is a little weird with something like avocado. but i think i finally figured out a good one. this is probably the healthiest cupcake you could eat!

for the carrot cupcakes:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

mixing and talking with my friend lou

for the icing:
2 underripe avocados, mashed
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tsp. sour cream
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350º F. mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oil, orange juice, and vanilla together.

slowly stir in shredded carrots and walnuts. spoon into cupcake tins, about 3/4 full and bake for 25 minutes. wait until cooled before icing.

*i never have powdered or confectioner's sugar lying around my pantry. never. bravo if you do, but if you don't, take the same amount of granulated sugar and just stick it in the blender for a minute or so. works just as well*

while the cupcakes are baking, put the cream cheese, avocado, and lemon juice into a food processor or blender. scrape the mixture into a large bowl and add the sugar, butter, sour cream, and vanilla. mix with a hand mixer until smooth. spread on the cupcakes.

i miss philly soft pretzels

sometimes when it's 2 am and the bars are closing down and you're in south philadelphia where the closest wawa is way down on south street, you realize that because it's after midnight that the pretzel factory on washington is open. and that is one of the best moments you can have. throwing your bikes in a pile up against the wall, grabbing a big bag of 3-for-a-dollar pretzels, and eating them on the curb is the absolute best way to end a night.

i was also lucky enough to work on walnut street, where i could literally run around the corner and grab pretzels from the little shop on sansom. living in ohio i've been going through pretzel withdrawal. mall pretzels just don't cut it. and i couldn't even wait until the next time i got a chance to visit. so i decided to make my own pretzels today.

you will need:
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. sugar
a pinch of salt

3 cups flour
2 tbsp. softened butter

1/4 cup baking soda
1 tbsp. sugar

1 egg + 1 tbsp. water

a few pinches coarse sea salt

combine water, sugar, salt, and yeast in a small bowl and stir. let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is foamy.

combine the flour and butter in a large mixing bowl and stir in the yeast mixture. pour the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. turn the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. let rise for 1 hour.

cut the dough into twelve pieces and roll into long strands and shape into pretzels. let rise 20 minutes. preheat the oven to 450º F. fill a pot with water and add sugar and baking soda. once the pot is boiling, drop in the pretzels for about a minute each, until puffed and shiny.

i used a potato masher to drop them in, hold them under the water, and skim them out. a spider skimmer or slotted spoon would work just as well. transfer pretzels onto a wire rack to drain.

while the pretzels are draining, mix the egg and 1 tbsp. water  together and brush over the top of the pretzels.

transfer them onto oiled baking sheets and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

bake for 15 minutes at 450º F.