Chocolate Truffles

I made chocolate truffles for my communication class on the last day of class, and the truffles were a hit! I had extra and gave one to Chef Keith (director of culinary) and he loved them. It took me a while to make them because there were some difficulties when trying to make them into little balls. You need to have patience when making them because the chocolate melts in your hands quickly, so I have tweaked the recipes just by how long you keep them in the fridge. No big deal right? Haha! 

Ingredients:

1 package (10 oz) chocolate chips

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup butter

1 to 2 containers (3 1/2 oz each) chocolate sprinkles

Directions: 

Melt chips with whipping cream and butter in medium saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Pour into a glass pie pan. Refrigerate until mixture is fudgy, but soft, about 4 hours to half a day. 

Shape tablespoonfuls of the chocolate mixture into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place sprinkles into a shallow bowl and roll the balls in the sprinkles. Place truffles into foil cups and keep refrigerated. Truffles must be refrigerated up until before serving. Truffles and be refrigerated up to 4 days, or frozen for a few weeks. 

When I refrigerated the first time, I only had them in the fridge for 2 hours then started rolling into balls, but they started melting instantly. That is why I changed the time. Keep truffles in the fridge until right before serving because sitting in room temperature for a while softens the truffles too much and it may become messy. 

Food and Beverage Service Class

For culinary you have to take Food and Beverage Service Class to graduate. We have big events that we have to wait on, and sometimes they are hectic, other times they are smooth. The first couple events I had to waitress were hectic and confusing, but just this past Thursday we had our first Caldwell cuisine, and I did a great job I believe. My classmates did a wonderful job as well! The event was extremely smooth and not as nerve wrecking. The guests understand we a students and still learning, so they are not so harsh on us. The first Caldwell cuisine was French themed, and the food was fantastic. The menu was: French onion soup, (entree) Duck a l'orange or Beef bourguignon, and creme brulee. After the event ended we were able to eat dinner and I had the beef bourguinon. The food was amazing, and after I was done I had to hunt for the recipe cards for the beef bourgionon and the haricot vert (french green beans). I will post the recipes in the next week.

Please visit and like my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thelifeofacookingfanatic

Culinary Guild

I am the Webmaster in my college's Culinary Guild. The Culinary Guild was created and is run by current culinary students attending CCC&TI. I just created the facebook page for the Guild, so the page is still at it's beginning. There are pictures posted of the last Cuisine night "Altrusa" in the past week. It was a buffet dinner, and lovely people attended. Please go to facebook and like and follow the Culinary Guild's page! https://www.facebook.com/CCCTICulinaryGuild

Also Please follow and like my own page for my blog! https://www.facebook.com/thelifeofacookingfanatic

Carving Ice

     

  In culinary skills 1 class, we helped Chef Ray carve ice for the first cuisine night this semester. We used many different types of tools to carve with. The main tool we used was an electric chainsaw. Many of my classmates used the chainsaw, but of course I was too scared because electricity, ice, and water don't mix well with me. I did help chip off the ice with some of the smaller ice picks. If you went behind the ice sculpture, it looked like Minnie and Mickey Mouse with a conjoined ear. The ice sculpture is supposed to look like the Olympic Rings, and I say for beginners we did alright. 

Pickling Cucumbers With Whipped Cream Chargers

       Today in my Culinary Skills I class we had a Chef from Google, John, show us how to pickle cucumbers really quick with whipped cream chargers. The picture above is a whipped cream charger, but when you use the charger you do not need the little white nozzle for pickling or infusing things. My instructor, Chef Keith, volunteered me to pickle the cucumbers with Chef John, and I was nervous the whole time but my classmates helped me out through the demo. I really appreciate how helpful my classmates and instructors are. Oh, get this!!! You do not use Co2 canisters, instead you use nitrous oxide (N₂O). Some of us in class thought we would use Co2, and we were all pretty much surprised. Come to find out I love these pickled cucumbers!!! Very refreshing! 

What you need:

• Cucumbers ( 1/4 in plank cut)
• Tub of water 
• Gallon sized Ziploc bag
• Fleur de sel 
• Rice Wine Vinegar
• Whipped Cream Charger
• 4 (single) N₂O canisters (Called Whippets) 

FIRST place your cut cucumbers in the ziploc bag (single layer), and lay them from the bottom to the opening, but only put four slices in the bag. The reason for that is because after the third step you need to roll the bag to fit into the charger. 

SECOND pour rice wine vinegar into the bag barely covering the cucumbers, but make sure you do not use too much vinegar, and while you pour the vinegar into the bag make sure to keep the bag flat on the table so it can get between the cucumbers.

THIRD lift the bag up and close the opening very well, but leave just a tiny opening so you can let the air out. Dip the bag into the tub of water and push the bag down into the water and let the water level reach the zip line of the opening area of the bag. Make sure the water does not get into the bag! Close the bag.

FOURTH Roll the bag from bottom to top and slip it into the charger. Fill the charger with water to the fill line and screw the top on tightly.

FIFTH Place a filled  N₂O canister into the screw valve charger holder, and quickly screw the holder onto the charger so the Nitrous oxide does not get lost. Shake the charger gently. Then unscrew the valve charger holder and replace the notrous, and screw back on quickly. 

WAIT 2 to 3 minutes...

SIXTH Squeeze the handle gently, but make sure the air releases away from you. After the air has been fully released repeat the fifth step.

WAIT another two to 3 minutes...

SEVENTH release the air gently once more, and pull the bag out.  Place the pickled cucumbers on a plate and gently sprinkle Fleur de sel on the the cucumbers. 

ENJOY! 

I hope you all like this because the whole class sure did. You will probably want a salad after eating the cucumbers because we all did! 

Facebook Users Unite!

     

      All Facebook users who want to be able to access my blog other ways and see what is going on in my life day to day... You now can follow me on my Facebook page! Why should you? Because I will have more recipes (that are mine or not mine) shared to inspire more lives, and you can watch future videos of me dealing with culinary events or possibly cooking videos!

       I just created my Facebook page today, and I need more likes and followers to spread the word about my blog! You can also message me if you have any questions on Facebook, and get creative with your own versions of the recipes I post!

     So please unite, and let the world know about life in a cooking fanatics world!

My Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/thelifeofacookingfanatic

New Me!

Illustration by Jesse Philips

I did not make many posts in 2013, but 2014 as well as the future years will be filled with thousands of posts!

I am no longer going to be going to school for nutrition. You ask why? Because I changed my major to culinary arts! Cooking is my passion, and it is what I want to do for the rest of my life! This blog will keep going till my time on this planet has ended! I will be posting recipes that have inspired me or I have created, reviews on restaurants, cooking shows, my life in culinary school, and gardening. Once in a while I will probably have a surprise post that is a type that I did not list.  

I hope you all will like my future posts, and I hope you guys enjoy reading and partially experiencing my life voyages!