Dragon's Breath Dawn: an iced drink for the hot summer

This week has felt dragon-filled for us in House Cook. Our Khalee-C, Julianne, and one of her dragons have been traveling across the country with the oldest in our bunch, Sarah-Lambert. We'll share more about their travels later, but for now we introduce you to the tasty drink they enjoyed last night. 

Yesterday was a hot Kansas day for our two wanderers and today promises to be hotter with temperatures topping 100 degrees. Still, it's not as bad as the Texas heat which felt like having a hair dryer on high pointed at your face. To cool down, we've created a delicious and pretty drink that's like an Orange Julius meets an Hawaiian Sunrise: our very own Dragon's Breath Dawn. 

This tasty drink is cool and refreshingly sweet with a hint of lime to give it a nice bite. 

Dragon's Breath Dawn Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vanilla ice cream

3/4 cup orange sherbet 

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 1/2  cups orange juice 

dash of maraschino cherry juice (per glass)

1 cup crushed ice

Blend together ice cream, sherbet, orange juice, and lime juice. Once they are totally mixed, mix in the crushed ice. Pour into glasses and drizzle no more than a teaspoon of maraschino cherry juice in each glass.  Drink right away for a nice, cold treat! 

Devilish Dragons and the Eggs They Eat: our favorite deviled eggs recipe

Eggs are a devilish treat full of tricks. They crack, scramble, poach, and run. Today, we've solved their tricksy ways by deviling them with our khalee-c's very own deviled eggs: a Dragon's favorite snack. 

Previously, our khalee-c, Julianne, has showed you what to do when your dragon eggs don't hatch and how to eat a red velvet cupcake (if you hate them). This time, she brings you her own, unique recipe for deviled eggs. We all love these when we feast... and so do her dragons. 

The Khalee-C's Deviled Eggs Recipe

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 16 halves 

Ingredients8 eggs
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp mayo*
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne red pepper

*we used light miracle whip today and it tastes just as good

Step 1: Boil your eggs. We find that the best way to do this is to place the eggs in a large saucepan covered with water and bring to a good rolling boil then remove them from heat, cover and allow to cook through in the hot water for 5-7 minutes.

Step 2: Peel your eggs. A good way to get the shell to come off easily is to lightly tap all around the egg shell with a spoon or against the counter and then carefully peel the shell off while holding the egg under a small stream of cold running water. 

Step 3: Cut each egg in half and scoop the yolk into a bowl. Mix your mustard, mayo, garlic, and salt with the yolk and stir well until the mixture is creamy.

Step 4: Place your yolk mixture into a piping bag with an open star tip (any open shape of tip will do--this is the one we like). Fill your egg halves with the yolk mixture. For a pretty and delicious finish, lightly sprinkle a tiny bit of the cayenne pepper over the yolk mixture in the eggs. 

Yum! Your snack is ready to share with your dragons! 

Wondering what a khalee-c is? Khalee-C is our own name for Julianne and is a mix of khaleesi (the mother of dragons from 'Game of Thrones') and "Cook."

Mother of Dragons! Guacamole

Sometimes you learn the hard way that walking through fire doesn't always turn eggs into dragons. It's disappointing but true. Even the mother of dragons had to learn this the hard way. 

The question is: what do you do with the egg? If you're anything like us, you turn it into delicious guacamole. Our guacamole recipe is fast, easy, and tastes excellent. Keeping it simple makes for a tastier guacamole that anyone can make. In no time at all you can turn that dud dragon egg into spicy dip that your whole army will envy. 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados (squishy is better)
• 1 roma tomato
• 15 fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 - 1 (depending on how spicy you like it) medium-sized jalapeño
• Juice from two fresh limes
• Onion powder - ½ tsp
• Garlic salt – ½ tsp
• Table salt – ½ tsp
• Finely ground red pepper - ¼ tsp

Step 1: Don't peel the avocado. Simply start at the stem and cut all the way around the pit until it is sliced in half. Remove the pit. Cut the avocado into a grid while still in the peel and then squeeze each half into the a medium sized mixing bowl. Do this to all three avocados.

Step 2: Chop the roma tomato and add it to the bowl.

Step 3: Finely chop or tear the cilantro leaves and put them in the bowl.

Step 4: Very finely chop the jalapeño (either half or whole, depending on level of spice you want). Make sure to chop it into very small pieces (you don't want to take a bite with a big piece of jalapeño in it). Add to the bowl.

Step 5: Add all spices to the mix. Add lime juice.

Step 6: Don't stir this with a spoon. Take the knife you used to chop the ingredients and cut through the mixture. Cut all the way through the mixture until the larger pieces of avocado are chopped and then stir using the knife. This will keep the guacamole from becoming too mushy when you stir. The guac will taste better if it’s not too finely mashed. If you cut through the mixture, it will leave pieces of avocado - which provides a much nicer taste and texture.

Step 7: Taste it. Add salt or lime juice as needed. Serve with corn chips. Or if you want a healthier and tasty option, try sweet potato chips instead.

Enjoy your dip, and next week we'll show you how to make a spicy chicken to go along with your guacamole.

Khalee-C-Cupcakes: Heart-Shaped Red Velvet Cake

Caramel Flavored Red Velvet Cupcakes with a Peppermint Garnish

As we watched Daenerys Targaryan muscle her way past the gag reflex and choke down a raw horse heart during the first season of Game of Thrones, we thought to ourselves, "OMG, cupcakes!!" Yes, you read that correctly: cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes, mind you, but red velvet cupcakes with delicious whipped cream frosting and peppermint pieces all in a sweet little heart shape--a nod to Daenerys' suffering. 

Unfortunately, one amongst our number isn't such a fan of red velvet cake and handles eating cupcakes made with it about like Daenarys handled the horse heart...

If you're still with us--which you should be, because these bad boys are tasty--then let's get to baking!

Ingredients:

 Red velvet cupcakes (recipe here) 

 6 ounces of caramel ice cream topping

14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

 1 tsp vanilla extract

 1 tbsp confectioner's sugar

 red food coloring

 peppermint candies

Step 1: Start out by prepping your favorite red velvet cupcake recipe. Here’s a good one from drool factor, but if

you’re more comfortable making it from the box than from scratch, that’s fine too. 

Step 2: I’m using a Wilton heart-shaped cupcake pan. If you don’t have or want to buy a heart-shaped pan, you can either make regular round cupcakes, or there are a couple of simple tricks you can follow to get heart-shaped cupcakes.

•        One is the place a marble between the cupcake filter and the inside of the pan. This created the top of the heart.
•         The second option is to bake your cake batter in a large flat pan and either cut out the heart shapes or use a cookie cutter.

Step 3: Use whichever shaping method you’ve chosen above and bake your cupcakes.

Step 4: While the cupcakes are in the oven, it’s time to prep the caramel and sweetened-condensed milk.  Combine the milk and caramel in a saucepan and stir. The mixture should be warm and easy to pour. Don't let the mixture become too hot and burn the caramel and milk.

Step 5: When the cupcakes are done let them cool for five minutes. Then take a knife and cut slits in the top of the cupcakes. Make sure not to cut to the bottom.

Step 6: Slowly pour the caramel and milk mixture over the slits in the cupcakes. I like to use a big spoon for this, but make sure not to pour too quickly. You want the cake to absorb the mixture.

  

Step 7: Prep the whip topping.

•           Pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a bowl. Mix until soft peaks form.
•           Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tbsp of confectioner’s sugar, and a few drops of red food coloring
•          Beat until soft peaks form

Step 8: Put the whip topping on the cupcakes. To get a great look, put the topping into a piping bag and use a star-tip. I used a 1M star tip (which is quite large) to get a good icing look.

Step 9: Crush peppermints. This is easiest if you put the mints into a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Once crushed, garnish the top of the cupcakes with the peppermints. Don’t like peppermint? Any chocolate or hard-candy will work and will add a great flavor.

Crushed peppermints sprinkled on the cupcakes

The sweet red velvet cupcakes with sprinkles of peppermint all around 

...take a bite and enjoy!