Food Blog 2

  1. My original plan was to bake a cake or some type of dessert but then I realized that I used up all the flour when I baked the apple pie last time. I decided to try something different for my last assignment  and cook a savory meal. I found frozen chicken breasts in my freezer so I looked on Pinterest (because that’s where I find the best recipes) and I came across a Chicken Parmesan recipe using an Instant pot. My mom bought one last year and uses it to cook almost everything so I thought I’d try it out. I’ve never cooked chicken breasts or made anything super fancy (I usually stick to cupcakes and cookies) so this was all completely new to me.
  2. I thought it went well up until the taste test. Unfortunately, when I fed it to my family they said it was a bit tasteless and needed more seasoning. The chicken was a bit dry, but the pasta was good. I wasn’t too upset about it though because it was my first time making something like this.
  3. During this assignment, I learned that it’s ok to make mistakes. Like I said, this was a new experience for me and I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I tried anyway and I messed some things up, but I can only go up from here. I’m glad I tried something new. I’m learning from my mistakes and hopefully it will be  better the next time I try.
  4. https://temeculablogs.com/instant-pot-chicken-parmesan/

Food Blogging

For this project, I chose to bake an Apple Pie. I’d seen your video on OneNote and made it once already. It always turns out amazing and my family loves it. I was familiar with the process so I didn’t come across any issues, and I think it was an excellent choice for this assignment. I already had all the ingredients in my house so it worked out great. The original recipe calls for a mix of butter, shortening, and margarine. The last time I baked this pie, I followed the recipe and it turned out a bit salty for my taste. This time I used only butter and I think it tasted a lot better. My family really enjoyed the pie this time around. More than last time because of the changes I made.  I brought it to a family dinner at my grandma’s house and it was finished before I could grab a second slice. It turned out exactly as I’d hoped and I wouldn’t make any changes. I’m looking forward to baking this again in the future because it’s always a success. While working on this week’s assignment, I learned that you don’t always have to stick to the recipe. Trying new things and adding more or less of an ingredient might actually give you a better outcome than the original. I learned to not be afraid to add my own twist to a recipe and even if it doesn’t turn out well, it’s a lesson for next time.

Apple Pie

Ingredients
Pastry:
3 c.  750 mL  Flour
1 tsp.  5 mL  Salt
2 tsp.  10 mL  Sugar
1 c.   250 mL  Butter, Margarine or Shortening (or a blend of 2)
6-8 Tbsp.  60-80 mL Ice Cold Water

Filling:
6-10   6-10  Apples: peeled, cored, and sliced
¼ c.  60 mL  All-purpose Flour
¼ c.   60 mL  Sugar
1 tsp.  5 mL  Cinnamon
½ tsp.  2 mL  Nutmeg
½ tsp.  2 mL  Salt
1 tsp.  5 mL  Vanilla
1   1  Egg

Sugar for sprinkling

Pastry:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal, then cut in butter
until particles are the size of small peas.
3. Add cold water gradually, tossing dough lightly with a fork.
4. Gather dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least one hour.
5. Allow dough to come to room temperature (no more than 10-15 minutes) before rolling

Pie:
1. Preheat the oven to 400
2. In a medium size bowl, mix sliced apples with flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt
3. On a floured surface, roll out half the pastry in a circle just larger than your chosen pie plate, .
Be sure to roll from the center, out so as not to activate the gluten in the flour!
4. Loosely place the pastry into the pie plate, lifting the edges to place into the dish without
stretching the dough in any way.  Patch up any cracks or empty spots in the pastry.
5. Roll out the second layer of pastry the same size as the first one.
6. Fill the pie plate with the apple filling, making sure the filling is evenly distributed.
7. Cover the pie with the second pastry layer, crimping around the edges with a fork, or pinching
decoratively with your fingers
8. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Using your paring knife, cut vent holes into the pie
9. Place in oven and loosely cover with tin foil.  Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the tin foil.  Bake
another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool before eating.

 

Food Photography

These are the items I chose to place in my photos.

The items in the background give the picture a pop of colour while complementing the food.

 

I like how all three items in the background (plan and 2 jars) give the picture an elegant touch while the towel makes it feel more rustic and home-y.

This birds eye view picture compliments the food by getting a close look at all the ingredients.