Chocolate Cheese Fudge! Thank's Paula Dean!

As much has I "dislike" Velveeta, here is the only recipe I would ever recomend using the stuff in.If you decide to make it, let me know how you like it.

Ingredients
1/2 pound Velveeta cheese, sliced
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans, walnuts
2 (16-ounce) boxes confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Directions
Spray lightly the bottom of a 9 by 2-inch square pan with a nonstick spray.


In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the cheese and butter together, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and nuts.


In a large bowl sift together the sugar and cocoa. Pour the cheese mixture into the sugar and cocoa mixture and stir until completely mixed. The candy will be very stiff.


Using your hands, remove candy from bowl and press evenly and firmly into pan. Because of the amount of butter in this recipe, pat the top of the candy with a paper towel to remove the excess oil. Place pan in refrigerator until candy is firm.

Enjoy!

A few things from 2010!!

Hello, Here is a few pictures I made into a Collage to highlight a little of what happend this past year.

Granola-Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granola
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the granola, chocolate chips and peanuts. Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
3.Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are lightly browned around edges. Remove cookies to wire racks and allow to cool.

" I Got It"

I got this for Christmas this year,the cookbook I have been looking at, wishing for.I am so excited to get started cooking from it. And no, I will not be blogging every recipe from the book, it made a good movie though.I might post a few pictures and maybe a few recipes.

I know, It's been a while!

Yes, It has been an while since I have posted anything on my badly neglected blog. I started this blog to document my journey through culinary school. There have been allot of things that have happened since I last posted in my blog.My last few weeks in class were very exciting.After an eventful time on "salad station" I was ready to scream,but I kept going.The station after that was "bakeshop", I was in my element.Of course It was my time to shine and with a few "bumps" in the road,it was really fun.I was really put in a position of having to take charge. I would come in early every day not know if anyone in my group, accept my buddy Chris, to show up for class.For what ever reason some people cant handle stress and go running out the door to get away! Anyway, Chris and I had the best time making all kinds of goodies and laughing along the way!!

Now,I am in Summer quarter at O.C. taking Biology and Math. I know, biology is not what I should be taking for a culinary student but that's what you get for having to wait till the first day of classes to see my adviser to get into classes.Its going pretty well, considering I am not going to be a nurse or anything closely related to that profession.Math on the other hand, has always been a struggle for me.I am doing my best and pushing through it.I am looking forward to the end of Summer quarter and heading back in to that crazy place we call the kitchen at the Olympic college Culinary school!

Week Three, and I am alive!!!!

This is the end of my third week!! Wow! am I learning alot and it seems like I have been there for ever(that's good)! This week has had it share of ups and downs and crazy recipes! I made a verity of dishes this week. Fish, really wasn't my strong point considering I made the batter for the Tempura too thick and it came out like battered fish and not even close to what it was suppose to be! Oh well, I did learn how to make Tempura fish and not just battered fish! Also this week i was so proud of myself for learning how to take a whole chicken and remove the leg and thighs for my chicken Puteneska.I felt like i had really learned something that day!! Well, isn't that the reason I am going to Culinary school!lol This week has been really great and I am excited where the next week will take me. We start cooking for the Bistro,the sit down restaurant at Olympic College, it is very nice and we are trained to cook in a real kitchen setup to learn how it is done a real restaurant. The menu is really good. I am so excited! Oh, I got an 87% on my sauce test which I heard was one of the high scores on the class!

Well It is the end of week two and i am still really loving it! Tuesday our group changed stations to Main station, which means we do the three main entrees on the menu of the day! The first thing I made was an Applejack Roasted Ham with a Pineapple/Orange chutney. It was a hit, everyone loved it! It was the first time I had cooked a ham and made chutney which turned out really tasty.Friday was a Tempura battered Rock fish with a pineapple/orange terriyaki sauce. It was ok, I just didn't really know how to cook Tempura so it came out a little thick and it was suppose to be a thin batter. I finally figured it out after a little trial and error, but it was selling out on the line! So I am ready for my third week, which Monday starts out with me doing dish pit duty! Oh well, I have to get it out of the way sometime! Monday night I have to get my food handlers card so I can cook and I don't get stuck out of the kitchen and stuck in Dish pit!

Some goodies prepared by me and fellow students!

The Desserts were made by bake shop this passed week and it all looks so amazing! I made the soup,A sweet Potato with whip cream honey croutons and cranberry Granish! It was really good and it sold out at lunch! I love my apple swan we made in Knife class, i mihgt be making more of these in the future!!!The fruit basket was make my a fellow third quarter student!! Beautiful!!!

I survived the first week!!

So, as the title suggests I did survive the first week on culinary school. I was very nervous going into it, who would be there, what kind of people would i meet, would they be friendly to the "newbies" or would they just look at you wierd if you had a question. All those things went through my head before the first day! I was very surprised to find everybody is very cool,helpful and very willing to show you a skill that you have yet to learn! The first day we had basically an introduction to the program, safety skills and all the "paperwork" that had to be done! Pretty boring but it had to be done! The second day we had to be officially dressed in our chef attire and we were going into the kitchen!!! We had a tour of the kitchen and surrounding areas!!It was very cool!So now we know were everything is, i was ready to get started!!! The second day I was chosen to be in a group for the rest of the quarter! I have my friend Christine in the class and she suggested me for the group! Michele, Chris and Nathan and I are on Soup station!! I made my first soup on Wednesday! Tomato Bisque, it was amazing but of course being my first time the soup went out late to the line for lunch! I felt really bad but everybody liked it!!!Thursday, the soup was Sweet potato and Friday it was Wisconsin Cheddar with an Amber Ale!! Yum!!! So the fist week went very well and I am very excited to start my second week!!!!!

The Beginning of the Pasrty Diva!!!

Here we go!! The realization of a dream, me in Culinary school! I can't believe it is happening but it is!!!! So here we go! First, I am going to The Culinary School at Olympic College, getting an Associates in Culinary Arts, then on to Pastry school at La cordon Bleu school in Portland, Oregon.Then it will be official, Renea West,Pastry Chef and restaurant owner!