October 2011
1 post
Big changes
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have been following my posts here on tumblr. Its been fun, but I’ve had a hard time getting my blog to look the way I want it too, so I’ve decided to move. My posts will now be found here: http://carpetheyum.wordpress.com/. If you want to see my posts, feel free to follow me on wordpress, or on facebook at www.facebook.com/carpe.cibus....
September 2011
4 posts
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Happy bacon birthday.
Today was one of my classmate’s 20th birthday. She often jokes about loving bacon too much (and has mentioned on several occasions that she wants to get a bacon tattoo). So, I knew for her birthday I had to make a bacon treat. And I thought it would be fun to do a sweet bacon treat. I have previously made maple bacon cupcakes, but I was looking for something different this time. I ended up...
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The lost post
After I posted my recipe for feta dip in cucumber cups, I noticed I had saved a draft of a post that never got finished. This was from a few months ago! Jeeze. The summer really made me lazy. Anyway. Here ya go!
Today I made cookies, as a request from one of my coworkers for his last day of work. He requested some chocolate chip cookies, but I found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Monster Cookies...
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Feta cheese and fancy cucumber cups
Second semester is underway. First up: Garde Manger and Culinary Spanish. In Garde Manger we had to make 200 hor d’oeuvres for an event on our schools main campus. Chef told us at the beginning of class that we would do 50 each of four different kinds, but when we got into class, he only told us three kinds to make. While everyone was working away on the stuffed cherry tomatoes, ham rolls,...
Second Semester!
As of this week, I am back in school! This summer has been so much fun, I’m sorry I’ve neglected to post all of the wonderful things I’ve been creating! But now that school has started, I’m going to try my hardest to start posting again.
Hooray!
June 2011
2 posts
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Just a little news...
So, in case you were wondering, I just celebrated my 23rd birthday! I often get asked if I am much younger than I am, so for my birthday my friends got me this.
Awesome.
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Coffee cake, the literal version.
A few weeks ago, I took some mocha brownies into my work to share with everyone and they were a hit! One of my coworkers is a big fan of my cupcakes, so she asked me to translate the flavors from the mocha brownies into some cupcakes, but with less chocolate. Let me tell you. Finding a recipe for coffee cupcakes WITHOUT chocolate was kind of a challenge. But I found this one and I think they...
May 2011
3 posts
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May birthdays are just so much pun!
Its time for May’s birthday cupcakes. We wanted to do something fun.
Fruity.
Light.
Something to represent that summer is just around the corner.
And….. Somehow, we wound up with this.
Eggy Cupcakes (from my 500 Cupcakes book) Makes 18 cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, room temp. 1 cup sugar 2 cups self-rising flour* 1 tsp. baking powder 4 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla *If you...
Summer time and the livin's easy...
School is out for the summer! My grades have been posted and I got a B in baking, a B in cooking and an A in purchasing and storeroom management. At the beginning of the semester I would have told you I’d have done WAY better than that, but this semester was actually a lot harder than I expected. Physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. In fact, on my last day of class, I think I...
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Blinkers and the Pupcakes
Everyone, take a deep breath! Finals are OVER! (pause for applause)
I made it through my first semester of culinary school. And, I only have one scar to show for it, a big burn mark on my arm (which, oddly enough, I dont remember burning myself at all…) Anyways. Its summer break, whether the weather permits it or not (yep. It snowed all day yesterday). That means you’ll be hearing...
April 2011
2 posts
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My television debut! →
Click the link above to see my television debut! My school was picked as the Cool School of the Week on a local news channel. They asked for a couple of volunteers to interview, and I loves me some attention, so I jumped on it! (In case you were wondering, I was working on making some delicious chicken tortilla soup.)
misenplace asked: Well, I'm glad I helped you out with a little something. We'll all get better. Not so secretly, I can't wait to bake. Because we do pipings, breads, desserts and all that type of stuff.
March 2011
4 posts
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Winner for the cupcakes with the longest name!
My aunt has been ill and was seriously craving something chocolate-y, so when we made her dinner the other night (lasagna with homemade sauce!) we knew we had to take some dessert as well. For Christmas, I got my demy (which I have mentioned before) and there was a recipe on it for Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper Cupcakes (say that three times fast!). My aunt also happens to love Dr. Pepper, so we...
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Cooking Skills Development
I finished off my baking block with a bang, completing a pie, 2 dozen rolls, a dozen muffins, a dozen cookies, 6 cream puffs, 6 eclairs, pastry cream and 2 cups of creme anglaise in just under 4 hours. (Magic? maybe.) Just a few weeks ago I started my second block class, cooking skills development. I was dreading so looking forward to this class. I thought when I started that baking would be...
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March Birthdays!
Every month there is a theme for our birthday cupcakes, and since the dominating holiday in March is St. Patrick’s day, we wanted to make green cupcakes. I got my recipe from my trusted source, Cupcake Bakeshop
Her recipe calls for a crust on the bottom of the cupcakes, and pastry cream on top, but since we had to make them in advance we skipped those extras and stuck with the lime cake....
February 2011
4 posts
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February Birthdays
For February’s birthdays, we had the inspiration to do a cupcake sundae bar (mostly because we had so much leftover ice cream and toppings from an actual sundae bar!). We used the Unconventional Ice Cream Cake recipe from Princess Ava’s 4th birthday, and supplied everyone with some whipped cream and assorted toppings.
The picture is a little on the blurry side, but I think you get...
bitchhplease- asked: hai! i was just getting curious about culinary school and i started to search tumblr about the tag and i found your post about your first day at it. how is it? and can you give me some facts about culinary school? i'm attending Baruch College right now, but I'm not majoring in the stereotypical business majors. I'm majoring in Graphic Designs, only because I dont like the majors...
January 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Half way point
How time flies! It seems like just yesterday I was dragging my tired butt out of bed at 4:30 AM to get ready for my first day of culinary school. Yesterday marks my half way point in my Baking and Pastry class. Seriously? Its already half way over? Its exciting and also TERRIFYING!
So far this semester we have made:
Baguettes (using three different mixing methods), artisan baguettes, challah,...
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Followers
If any of you are interested, you can follow me on facebook to see more pictures and updates.
Carpe Cibus on Facebook!
Just follow the link and click “like” :) You know the drill.
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Year End Celebration!
First off, I’d like to say I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ve got a recipe to share, and a few pictures. Also, I’d like to take a minute to brag about something awesome, but that’ll come later.
First up!
Peppermint White Chocolate Brownies (or as my family likes to call them, whities!)
This recipe is just a revised version of a Mint...
December 2010
2 posts
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December Birthdays
December makes me think of Christmas, and when I think of Christmas treats, I always think eggnog! I know not everybody likes eggnog, but it seemed festive and all the recipes I found said they made people into eggnog converts. So we tried it out! I got this recipe from Annies Eats. The only changes I made were to leave out the burbon/rum (a lot of the faculty at my moms work don’t drink so...
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Thanksgiving Treats
A little late, but here’s my special Thanksgiving treat I made for our dessert. (forgive my contiunatlly late posts, there are only two weeks of the semester left and its definitely crunch time!)
Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti
1/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon...
November 2010
4 posts
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Happy 4th Birthday!
My darling cousin Ava is turning four today and she requested “Strawberry cupcakes with a swirl and a strawberry on the side”. I let my imagination run wild and came up with the girliest cupcakes you probably have ever seen. Pink papers, pink cake, pink frosting and pink sprinkles?! Its almost pink overload! These recipes are the easiest ever, and quite impressive!
We’ll start...
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Tuesdays 2 for 1 special!
Because I’ve been slacking off in the posting department as of recently, I decided today would be a 2 for 1 special. A two for Tuesday, if you will. Two of my most recent experiments were vanilla bean cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting, and apple cheesecake parfait cups. I hope you enjoy!
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (original recipe can be found right here)
Makes about 18 cupcakes
1 stick...
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Holy hiatus, Batman!
October seriously FLEW by. Between the 2 weddings, working, school, and Halloween (I was a cupcake!), I didnt have much time to experiment in the kitchen, but because its the first week of November, we have November birthday cupcakes!
When I was asked to do the birthday cupcake project, I made a list of all the flavors I first thought of for each month, and November stumped me. When I think of...
October 2010
1 post
5 tags
October Birthdays
You can’t think of October without thinking of pumpkins, so pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were definitely on the schedule for October’s birthdays. I made a few small changes to the recipe, and I doubled it, which made 5 1/2 dozen cupcakes. Here’s the smaller version of the recipe (will make about 2 dozen cupcakes) with the changes I made.
Pumpkin Cupcakes (the...
September 2010
9 posts
3 tags
Pretzels!
Ahh. Today was my day off and after sleeping in, enjoying a delicious breakfast, and taking a much longer nap than I had originally planned on, I decided to do a project I’d been wanting to do for a while now. PRETZELS! Not those crunchy salty things that take over your chex mix (Seriously! Why are there so many pretzels?!) but the big soft ones, perfect for dipping into some cheese or...
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More brownies! Yum!
Brownies make AWESOME last minute birthday treats when you’re not really sure what to make and you don’t want to make a special trip to the grocery store, or dirty the just cleaned up kitchen. (plus, they’re kind of delicious!)
Fudgy Brownies with Praline Icing (from my good housekeeping Brownies! book)
1 1/4 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)...
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Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
After a big mug of chai tea this morning before school, I was inspired to make some cupcakes. I love chai tea, its so warm and spicy. Its perfect for a chilly fall day.
Chai Tea Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes
1/2 cup powdered chai drink mix (I got this in the regular grocery store) 1 cup hot water 1 2/3 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4-1/2 teaspoon...
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Soups on!
There are few things simpler for dinner than a one pot soup. Seriously. Everything goes in at the same time, you cook it till its hot. (so easy a caveman could do it?) Anyway. When I was perusing the pantry looking for what to make for dinner tonight, I found a can of enchilada sauce and thought, hmm… Enchilada soup sounds delicious! My dad was just headed home from work so I had him stop at...
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I love Cheesy Poofs, you love Cheesy Poofs, if we...
I got todays recipe out of Alton Browns I’m Just Here For MORE FOOD, which was lent to me by my friend Kyle. He said he would get the book for me on one condition, I had to make him some Cheesy Poof. Now, I don’t know about you but I love cheese. And I love carbs. And I love to bake. So, all three of these things rolled up in one? That was definitely a condition I could agree to. The...
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September Birthdays
This year, I will be helping my mom out by making a new flavor of cupcake once a month to celebrate the birthdays of the faculty at her school. We decided to go with a back to school sort of theme for these cupcakes, and settled on Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes. Because I was making so many, I took a cheat and used a boxed cake mix this time (don’t tell!) and then jazzed them up with some...
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Busy busy busy!
I do apologize for the lack of posts, but school just started and I haven’t had a lot of time to write. I’ve got a pile of recipes to post, and no time to post them! But, inspired by a recent trip to the canyon for some family reunion fun, I thought I’d share my take on a s’more. (I took the cupcake and ganache recipes from here and the frosting from here)
S’mores...
August 2010
11 posts
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Mocha Brownies
Today was an exciting day because I got to use my brownie cook book (given to me by my BFF Ken a few years back for Christmas) and I got to cook with coffee, and I saw a movie with Ms. Chelsea! These brownies were for her, because she saved me the other day. (I was unaware I was supposed to be at work until 5 minutes before and she was there to remind me to get my butt movin!)
Mochaccino Brownies...
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Dinner and Dessert!
So, today is my dads birthday, so we’re going all out, and making all his favorite things. The two things he let us choose from to make for dinner were either stuffed porkchops or manicotti. (When I asked if he would like manicotti stuffed with porkchops, his drink came out his nose…) So, we settled on homemade manicotti with garlic bread and a tossed salad, and carrot cupcakes with...
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More muffins! (or, the hunt for the elusive...
More muffin experiments for our upcoming faculty meeting breakfast. Our original plan was to do the raspberry streusel muffins (which I have already posted) and these delicious looking cinnamon chip muffins I found. Except that the original recipe called for chocolate chips, and chocolate chip muffins seem so…. boring. Plain. Original. Like a blueberry muffin. Delicious, yes, but I wanted to...
4 tags
Quite a makeover!
So, I was watching TV yesterday and I saw Giada making a lemon mint cake that looked so so delicious. Sort of like a lemony angel food cake with mint in it. Well, I dont have any lemons. Or mint. And I dont need a whole cake, so once again, I’m making cupcakes. And they’re going to be orange. :)
Mini Orange Cakes with Orange Syrup
makes approx. 12 cakes
Cake:
3 eggs, separated 1...
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Tough work!
I have been enlisted to feed the faculty at my moms work for their upcoming meeting, so today I’m trying a new recipe for muffins. I realized after I put the muffins in the oven that I didnt take any pictures this time. Whoops! you’ll just have to use your imagination.
Raspberry Streusel Muffins
makes 18 muffins
Muffins
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1/2...
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The kitchen is closed!
Today I decided it was a good day for me and my kitchen to rest. But I thought I’d post a little more proof of how much I love food.
This is my puppy. His name is Basil (like the herb). I had tossed around a few ideas for his name, including Flapjack, Cupcake, etc etc. but ultimately decided on Basil. People laugh when they first hear his name, but once you get to know me it makes sense.
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Theres always a story...
Generally when I make food, its not just because (although there are times when I just get bored and feel like making something).
Today, however, there’s a reason to my madness. My brother is coming home to take my dad out for his b-day, and its also a close family friend’s birthday (and she’s practically my second mom, so I couldnt let the day slip away without making her a...
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Assembly!
So I waited till the morning of to assemble the cupcakes and since they were due today (like homework?) I got up early to get them ready so that they were as fresh as possible.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (frosts 30 1/2 cupcakes)
2 sticks room temp. butter 2 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3-4 cups powdered sugar
With an electric mixer, beat butter until soft. Add milk,...
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Chelsey and Kevins chocolate cupcakes
Alrighty.
My first paying gig! Chelsey, a friend I used to work with, heard through the grapevine that I’d been experimenting with some cupcake recipes recently (for a big project coming up, I’ll explain later). She asked if I could make some cupcakes for her husbands birthday, and I love them both, and I love to bake, so naturally I said yes! She had mentioned that her husband likes...
The first ever!
Today is a day of firsts. First of all, its the first post ever on this spiffy new blog I started. Second, today will also be my first ever recipe post! Third, the recipe I’m going to be posting is the first ever batch of cupcakes I’ll be making for someone thats going to PAY me for them (what a novel idea!) and very lastly, this will be my first experiment at making chocolate cupcakes...
