Andie's Kitchen: Purple Potato Shepard's Pie

Purple Potatoes

Have you ever had a purple potato? 

They are very similar to the typical brown russet potato, but they are purple inside and out. The color is produced by anthocyanin which is powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants can aid in cancer prevention, anti-inflammation, and anthocyanin in particular is thought to increase blood sugar metabolism.

Purple potatoes are slightly more expensive that most potatoes at the grocery store. I believe they were $3.99/lb. I tell you, though, they are worth it.

I decided to make a traditional potato recipe with the purple potatoes... Shepard's Pie!

Shepard's pie is simple, comprised of 4 basic layers. The first layer is browned ground beef, followed by peas, then mashed potatoes, topped with a melted cheese layer.

To make mashed potatoes I boiled the purple potatoes until they were soft. Then I drained them and returned them to the pot. Afterward add butter, cream cheese, and a bit of milk. Then I added a pinch of garlic, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.

I know that this photo does not demonstrate the full beauty of the purple potato Shepard's pie, but in my defense it is difficult to photograph a layered structure like that. But, know that it was very delicious indeed.

This was Andie's Kitchen: Purple Potato Shepard's Pie, stay tuned for more from Andie's Kitchen.

All About Baking: Mini Maddies

A few weeks ago I bought a mini Madeleine sheet, and I am very excited to tell you that I used it today!

I made chocolate Madeleines rather than your basic lemon, but I am sure it won't be long before I try the traditional type too!

Today I want to first go over how to adjust when you realize that they recipe you chose was not the best recipe.

I made the first round of my mini Maddies thinking that the batter was too think, but because I followed a recipe I stuck with it. Sadly, the first set (while still tasting great) did not form those cute little shells on the front like they should. I attributed this to it's thickness and inability to really cover the sheet properly. What did I do you ask? Well, I added a little bit of milk at a time until I came up with a thin enough consistency to fill the sheet without having to spread the batter myself.

The original recipe is as follows:

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

2 oz butter (1/4 cup)

1/2 t. vanilla

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

2 egg yolks

375 degrees

cream sugar, vanilla and butter

add eggs one at a time

mix dry ingredients together

add dry ingredients to batter

So I ended up adding probably about 2 Tablespoons of milk, maybe 3 to a half batter. Which would me to adjust this recipe it would be best to add 1/4 c. milk. OR it would be good to test it and melt the butter originally to see how that affects the consistency.

But, since I didn't foresee the problem I had to adjust accordingly during the recipe. Here's a picture between the two.

To the left are the thicker battered maddies and to the right are the adjusted ones. Excuse the bright flash

But, end result: tasty tasty tasty and fun! So, never be afraid of adjusting while baking. If you ever have a baking question, please ask away and I would be happy to answer you as best I can!

Decorate with powdered sugar!

pretty little shell shape!

This was All About Baking: Mini Maddies. Please stay tuned for more baking tips!

Andie's Kitchen: Homemade Greek Yogurt Experiment

I had a ton of milk that I needed to use up by tomorrow so I figured why not try making my own greek yogurt???

So, here's what I did. I found a recipe and this is what happened.

Step 1: Scald 4 cups milk on high heat for 5-7 minutes.

Step 2: Let cool for 45 minutes to an hour.

Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons live culture greek yogurt

Notice Live Culture

Step 5: Heat oven to warm for 4-10 minutes. Turn off oven and turn on oven LIGHT. Place mixture in oven for up to 12 hours.

Step 6: When the yogurt is settled like below. Strain for 2-4 hours. (I accidentally strained too long and had to add back some whey)

Notice how it falls off the sides easily.

Strain with a thin cloth.

Mix with honey and store!

Thank you for joining me today for Andie's Kitchen: Homemade Greek Yogurt Experiment. Stay tuned for more kitchen experiments!

Andie's Kitchen: Flour Tortillas

Today I decided that buying flour tortillas is too expensive considering they typically only come in packs of 8. To avoid going to the store today I made the bold decision to make homemade flour tortillas. I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com. It was also really simple which is a definite plus!

The fun part of making homemade tortillas is the mixing with the dough your hands. When I have the opportunity to really create and mold food with my hands it is makes me feel like an accomplished cook. When I envision great cooks I think more of heritage and ethnicity in its purest form rather than a culinary school artist chef. So taking the time to really create delicious foods like homemade tortillas really speaks to me and makes me grateful for all of the women in Mexico who have continuously kept tradition and passed the art down. I would recommend to everyone to try a truly from scratch approach to a meal at least once in your life. You will not regret it!

Also, along with my homemade tortillas I made homemade refried beans. I soaked my pinto and black bean mixture (the hard beans in a bag) for around 8 hours, then boiled them for 40 minutes and fried them in butter, onions, cheese, garlic salt, cayenne, and cumin. They were amazing, and a wonderful compliment to the tortilla!

They look like any other tortilla, but taste so much better!

The recipe makes a lot of tortillas!

This was Andie's Kitchen: Flour Tortillas. I hope you enjoyed cooking with me! Stay tuned for more fun creations in the kitchen!

Andie's Kitchen: Cookie Experiment with Mom

My mom found a recipe for Chocolate Macarons a few weeks ago after being inspired by her first trip to Amelie's French Bakery in NoDa. This recipe is not your everyday kitchen supply recipe. It required some specialty items.

After ordering a new cooking scale and purchasing almond meal, we picked a day to make the cookies. That day was today.

For those of you who know, my mom and myself are very experienced bakers. Not only am I experienced with practice, but I have learned all the food science about what is going on and how to make things turn out well. The point of telling you that we are experienced is to emphasize that we were not ready for what lied ahead.

Things we discovered today: almond flour does not equal almond meal... both can be used, just I believe almond flour is easier since it is finer - sifters definitely are important for any kitchen - and boiling sugar to a specific temperature is very difficult without a cooking thermometer. (I had to melt the sugar into solution three times before I could get it to stay in solution so I could add it to the egg whites.)

But, since we are PROS despite all difficulty and time consumption on these little cookies they tasted amazing! I am not fully convinced that they are worth that much time, in fact when my mom suggested it would be faster next time I commented that I didn't love them enough for there to be a next time. However, some time has passed (several hours) since I made that comment and I believe that I can master the art of the Chocolate Macaron eventually. Once the cookies were cooled and the ganache was set and it made that little bite of heaven I realized that they were indeed worth my time. Practice will make perfect.

Here's a picture of our first batch Chocolate Macarons. Next time expect even better!

That was Andie's Kitchen: Cookie Experiment with Mom. Stay tuned for more fun adventures in Andie's Kitchen!

Souptober: Week 4 Menu

Hey! I am starting my last full week of soups! Can you believe it? Souptober has flown by. I will confess that so far I have no made soup on 2 days, but I did eat soup every day. This week, however, I plan not to meet a beet... haha there's might be a soup with beets in it :)

Also, update for the Captured by a Dream fundraiser I am up to $94 and I still have a week and 3 days! Who thinks we can make it to $150!!!??? Next week I will be posting about ticket prices and details about the Masquerade event. If you know of any big companies looking to donate money for tax returns this weekend please please send them my way. Raising $250,000 by the end of January is going to be a group effort and I need all of you to participate as much as you can :)

Menu:
Monday - Squash, corn chowder with limas topped with feta cheese (my favorite dish from Mitch's Tavern in Raleigh!)
Tuesday - Russian pumpkin soup (mushrooms and potatoes too!)
Wednesday - Sopa de Pollo (another kind of tortilla soup)
Thursday - White Chili
Friday - Shrimp Gumbo/ Creole
Saturday - Borsht Soup (made by the lovely Olivia Coward, this may have beets in it)
Sunday - Minestrone (classic)


Let me know if you want some soup, if you want to donate that would be lovely!

This was Souptober: Week 4 Menu. Say tuned for more about Soup!

Souptober: Week 3 Menu

I know it is late, but I had to still post it.

Monday: Reuben
Tuesday: Tom Yum
Wednesday: Tuscan Bean, turned Misfit
Thursday: Beer Cheese Cauliflower
Friday: Tomato Basil
Saturday: Chili
Sunday: Wonton

**Only 10 days left after this week! So far $56 has been donated for the Captured by a Dream through my soups! Please help me reach a goal of $100 by the end of this month! Come join me for soup, or just donate. I'm not keeping any of it, it's all going towards building houses for sex trafficed women and homeless children in Iquitos, Peru. Also, for every $6 raised, $1 is going back into our city to fund Urban Life Ministries. Check them out, they are doing great things in our inner city!

This is Souptober: Week 3 Menu. Please consider supporting the Captured by a Dream fundraiser, this is Kingdom work and every little bit helps!

Andie's Kitchen: Keeping no Profit

I started Andie's kitchen for my friends because I Love to cook, with a capital L. However, I think that some people think that I am starting this so that I can make a little pocket money. I just wanted to take a moment and say that any money that is given to me will pay specifically for what was provided, and in the rare case that there is left over money (aka profit), I want everyone to know that I plan to donate it to the Captured by a Dream fundraiser that I am hosting.

Captured by a Dream fundraiser is going to be a multi-faucet fundraiser that brings awareness to the growing needs of people who are homeless and sex-trafficed. I am starting this fundraiser mainly to raise money for a specific city that has a huge need, Iquitos, Peru. There is a church located there that's mission is to reach out to the poor, needy, despised, and rejected. They are currently trying to raise funds to build a women's home that will house 40 people, the women and their children. These women have been raised to be prostitutes, also known as sex-trafficed, and some of them are homeless, drug addicts. They all deserve a chance for redemption.

This is a young prostitute girl that is about to have a baby, she is currently waiting with the missionaries for a house to be built. There are many more girls like her. They want a chance to get out of the world they were told they had to live in.

The fundraiser does not want to stop with the immediate needs of this home, its goal is to raise money to support buying beds and supplies, and to build children homes for the kids that are abandoned and thrown to the streets to live. Many as young as 8 years old. It's truly tragic.

You might be curious why I would want to help another country before my own and I want to stop you right there. For every $6 raised, $1 will go directly into the Charlotte ministries for homeless and sex-trafficed women.

I am currently working on making the official website for this fundraiser. The biggest part of the fundraiser will be a Masquerade Ball in January, and tickets will be going on sale within the next month. So, be on the look out. A Facebook page will be made shortly with some details.

If you know of any way that I can talk to some public and private schools about having the classes raise support to support the children that do not have homes both here and in Peru, please let me know.

The goal of this fundraiser is $250,000. So, please partner with me if you are able. Let's together fight Satan's attack on the hopeless, let's give them hope.

If you do not want soup from me or anything else that I provide, but you would like to send a donation for the cause please contact me at anurban.88@gmail.com

Thank you.

That was Andie's Kitchen: Keeping no Profit. Please stay tuned for more from Andie's Kitchen!

Andie's Kitchen: Souptober!

I am planning on doing a Soup filled month. I will be making soup everyday for the month of October.

It will be called SOUPTOBER! And it will be Souptastic!

Here's what Andie's Kitchen hours will be:

Monday: 815-930 pm (yes it is a late soup day)
Tuesday: 700-930 pm
Wednesday: 600-630 pm (yes it's a short day)
Thursday: 700-930 pm
Friday: varies, call me for open hours
Saturday: see Friday
Sunday: see Saturday :)

Please you must make a call ahead reservation, otherwise there is no promise I will have enough soup for you. Soup will cost $2.50-$5 depending on the soup that day and the cost of the ingredients.

You should definitely stop in at least once this month for a tasty treat.

This was Andie's Kitchen: Souptober! Please stay tuned for the menu!