The Hungry Thing

The Gift of Brussels Sprouts

2012-01-21T08:55:00.001-08:00

This post is a duplicate from my other blog, but it's food related, so I thought I'd repost it.

Last weekend Sam and I went to Costco and bought $200 worth of groceries. I felt so awesome working out the budget and making sure we got things we needed instead of things we wanted. It was really fun. I decided we would get our produce and dairy at the regular store since it didn't really make sense to me to buy it in bulk when we're both only just starting to try to eat more fruits and vegetables (you'd never believe we were in our 20s, would you?).

And then it dawned on me: the long-ago mention of some produce basket co-op where you can get lots of fruits and vegetables for a fraction of the cost (as in $15 instead of $50). So I did some googling and discovered Bountiful Baskets. I then spent the next couple of hours doing research, reading reviews, and looking at pictures of what people typically get. I then ran it by Sam and we talked it over, finally deciding hey-ho, let's give it a go.

So this morning at 7:50, I arose, bleary-eyed, and asked Sam if he was coming (to which he replied "Would it kill you if I didn't?" of course), hopped in the truck, sent myself on a wild goose chase (who knows west from east, really? Pff.), and finally found the elementary school where the pickup was held. I went inside and some guy asked me for directions. I gave my standard "I just don't know," with raised eyebrows (which I'm starting to think some people might interpret as being rude, but sometimes...you just don't know). We then wandered around together until we found the auditorium, waited in line, showed proof of "contribution," the ladies made fun of my IKEA bag (have they seen how big those things are?), and kindly gave me a box to take my produce home in. I then made my way speedily home (there are surprisingly few people out and about at 8am on Saturday), singing to myself "It's eight o'clock in the morning; my husband's home and he's snoring..." (sung to the tune of that weird song on the radio right now).

Anyway, this is what we got:

I'm pretty excited to use this stuff in the near future. Some of it, like the corn, I will be cooking and freezing for later. We plan to get the baskets every other week (I think eating all that in one week would be a little over-ambitious, don't you?). Obviously some of it I can't eat because of my health issues, but Sam can.

What am I supposed to do with the Brussels sprouts though? We've both had them before and agree they are not delicious. Does anyone want them? Or something? Help?

A Nice Tidbit of Information

2012-01-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

Remember how I'm always telling you to coat fruit and such in flour when you put them in breads and such? Well, I've sort of always wondered why the coating is necessary, and I recently found out why. It's because it helps keep the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Instead, the flour helps it to stick to the batter or dough around it. I feel like a fool for never figuring that out. But now I know!

Blueberry Lemon Cake

2011-11-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm out in Connecticut for Thanksgiving, staying with my fiancé's family. I thought I'd try winning their love by making this bread for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning (haha). Anyway, everybody loved it, it was super delicious, and definitely a good appetite-whetter for the big meal to come this afternoon. (PS Sorry these pictures are crummy, I took them with Sam's phone after half the loaf had been eaten. And we were watching Star Trek, so maybe I was a little distracted by my visceral connection to Zachary Quinto's eyebrows.)

I made it the night before and it was still scrumptious by morning. I'd also like to thank my fiancé Sam for his help in doing the little tedious bits like zesting lemons and coating pans and such. Gracias!

Blueberry Lemon Cake

From Sweet Pea's Kitchen

For the Loaf:

1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided (the 1T is to coat the blueberries later)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (Pace I think makes yogurt cups just this size)

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons) (When Sam was zesting, he got through less than one lemon and was like "Ok, that's enough," and my citrus instinct kicked in and I said "NO!!! WE MUST HAVE MORE! CONTINUE THE ZEST! WE SHALL NOT BE CONQUERED!!!"...or something. So he did two whole lemons, we had lots of zest, and it turned out super lemony and delicious. You're welcome, family)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil (we used corn oil)

1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (we had about half that or less, because the blueberries were unknowingly munched on throughout the day. Oh well. It was still berry good.)

For the Lemon Syrup:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.

5. While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.

6. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely. (Don't be overly methodical about this. I started out poking holes in a grid pattern and ended up just going to town poking it wherever. And there was no brush available, so we used an old painting sponge, complete with the remnants of dried red tempra paint. And it was fine and dandy.)

7. To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving. (Or overnight. Whatever.)

Three-Layer Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake

2011-11-24T07:58:00.000-08:00

Preparing for the wedding has been a tough exercise in patience. Things don't go right. A couple of weeks ago, our cake maker decided to have surgery the day before the wedding, which is in another couple of weeks. Terrible timing. So then I was on the hunt for another cake maker with a tight timeline and a very specific cake outline.

I decided I'd make it myself just to be sure my dreams weren't completely ridiculous. So I got my best chocolate cake recipe, my best chocolate ganache frosting recipe, and looked up a mousse recipe that actually started out as an espresso recipe, but I just replaced the coffee powder with cocoa, and planned to fold in diced strawberries.

And lo, it was the greatest cake I've ever tasted, hands down. The other 9 people I tested it on thoroughly agreed. It was amazing.

Fortunately, I've since found a cake maker that will do it exactly as I want (minus the ganache-- buttercream is less rich, and therefore apparently better for the common palate). But here, for your baking pleasure, is the recipe to the best cake ever:

Chocolate Cake

from Smitten Kitchen

Also, I made this cake before for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, where you can go to see better pictures mid-production, etc

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper. Somehow when I read this, I read it as "butter and flour the paper," which is something that you do sometimes. Anyway, it didn't really need to be done I suppose, but I like that there was absolutely no stickage, so I'm going to recommend you do it, but it's apparently not necessary.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (although two of mine were done in that time and the other needed probably another 7 minutes, but apparently my granparents' oven is a little weird), or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting (which I used in this chocolate cake recipe)

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups heavy cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a boil. Remove from heat; add 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, and let stand, without stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk just until combined. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until spreadable, about 1 hour.

Mousse (I googled mousse recipes and this one-- which was originally an espresso one-- seemed like it would work best)

6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (62.5ml) whole milk (or, if you're me, 2% lactaid milk)

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/2 stick butter

1 egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream, cold

1. In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (known in the more poorer people's world as a makeshift double boiler), melt together the chocolate, milk, cocoa powder, and butter. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the egg yolk. In a mixer, whip the cream to medium peaks and fold it into the chocolate mixture (a handheld egg beater works great for this).

2. Dice a bunch of fresh strawberries (I just did a regular strawberry box from the store). Fold them into the mousse. Refrigerate for a bit (while the ganache frosting is cooling, per example).

Putting it together

This is super easy. You take a layer of cake, spread a bunch of mousse on, throw on another layer, more mousse, another layer, do a crumb layer with the ganache, then spread on the rest of it thickly so that it looks nice and pretty. Mine didn't look pretty because I didn't freeze the layers beforehand, but man was it tasty. Man.

Ignore my face. I wasn't aware it made it into the picture.

For more tips on perfect cake assembly, you can go to my post on said subject.

Lemon Cupcakes

2011-10-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

All three of you know this by now, but I didn't get to go to Italy. Let's leave it at that. Read more on my other blog if you're totally surprised by this.

Anyway! Last Sunday I made these oh-so-delicious lemon cupcakes. We changed the frosting to make it a lot simpler (and probably sweeter), but otherwise, it's true to Tartelette's recipe. They were so, so good. I wish it had made more than 16!

Lemon Salt Cupcakes

from Tartelette

Note: since we changed the frosting, that means we didn't use the salt either. So I'm not even including it, but you can go to her website to get it. It also was originally made to be gluten free, but I just used regular flour.

Cupcake Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup buttermilk

zest and juice of one lemon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in my case, just a bowl and some good old arm strength and a wooden spoon), beat the butter and sugar until smooth and airy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Lower the speed of the mixer and add the flour mixture and milk alternatively to the butter/eggs mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

5. Add the zest and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 full.

6. Bake for 20 minutes until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out free of raw batter.

7. Let cool completely before frosting. (Seriously. It will melt right off. Try putting them in the freezer for a few minutes if you're in a hurry)

For the frosting, we just googled "easy quick frosting," added a little lemon juice to make it more lemony, and piped it on to the cupcakes using a snipped ziploc bag.

Lime Cookies

2011-08-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently called this blog "boring as heck." As much as that bugged me (he's always been a little too brutally honest), he's right. I'm sorry if you as readers have had the same feelings toward this blog, but hey! I don't really care. It's more like a repository of recipes anyway, and if you've ever looked through a recipe box, the most exciting thing you'll find in there are the butter stains on the recipe used most often. But hopefully you'll find something that makes you go "OOH I want to make that!"-- hopefully. If not, that's okay. There are thousands of other food blogs out there, so if you don't find something here that looks tasty, move on and look somewhere else, I won't be offended, really.

Now, that aside, I'm sorry I've been rather neglectful as of late! It's been an incredibly busy year, and it's not going to get any slower before the year is over. I do have exciting news though! Starting in September, I will be participating in a three-month study abroad to Italy, and I will be taking a cooking class conducted in Italian! I hope to post on here pictures of things that we make in class, tricks that I learn, and plenty of recipes. Fingers crossed. I'm also planning on including introductions to delicious foods I come across while in Italy, including the thing I've waited my whole life to try-- gelatto. That's right, I've never had gelatto, because in my mind, the first time I taste it, it will be in Italy. Blame it on this:
Okay, so there's no gelatto in the second picture, but if you've seen that movie, you know she starts eating it (and spilling it on Cary Grant's suit) a few more feet down the quay (okay, it's not in Italy either, but France is cool too).

In any case, here's a recipe for you now. The recipe for these is from Smitten Kitchen (surprise, surprise), and I knew I had to make it because to me, limes = summer. And powdered sugar tastes cool for some reason, and cool is great when it's summer.

These cookies were delicious on days one and two, a little stale on day three (but not anything seven seconds in the microwave didn't fix), and crunchy on day four-- but I ate them anyway. They probably keep a day or two longer if you keep them in an airtight container, but I felt the need to keep them in a paper bag. It looked cooler. Anyway, these are delicious, and the only bad thing about this super easy recipe is that key limes are rather recalcitrant when it comes to zesting (compared to lemons).

Without further ado, Smitten's recipe (copied nearly directly, which I usually try not to do, but today I am lazy, so I hope she doesn't mind). Pictures are, of course, my own (why would I try to blame such crappy quality photographs on her, anyway? I really need to stop taking pictures in the middle of the night with the scrapings of the barrel/batch).

Key Lime Meltaways
From Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Martha Stewart

You can make these with regular limes as well, but if you run into some key limes, they’re worth it.

You could also keep the logs frozen for up to two months, and use them as the meltaway craving hits.

Yield: 5 dozen

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 4 tiny or 2 large key limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (a.k.a. 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.

3. Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour. (I only had plastic wrap, and it worked fine)

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. (Again my lack of parchment paper didn't turn out to be the end of the world. These cookies won't grow and won't stick, so you're probably fine sticking them directly onto the pan, as long as you have a good pan.)

5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, just three or four minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. (I'm certain she means a plastic ziploc bag, but I only had paper bags, so that was what I used. Powdery dust flew out the bottom though, so make sure you hold it over the sink if that's what you end up using too)

Strawberry Summer

2011-07-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Often during the summer I will lose my appetite for everything except pizza. Sometimes even pizza is gross (if you can imagine!), so I just want bread and fruit. Fortunately, someone smarter than me didn't head for the bag of bread and canned peaches. Instead, he made this amazing strawberry salad, and it was. so. delicious. I don't even like strawberries all that much, and it was so, so good, and perfect for hot summer nights when you don't feel like really cooking.

My one word of advice for this is to start it in advance so you aren't eating dinner at 10:45 at night. Yep. And excuse my grainy pictures I took with my phone right before I finished eating.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

from AllRecipes.com

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon minced onion

10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces

1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced

1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Eat with a loaf of french bread. I insist.

Exciting Ramen

2011-05-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

I kind of got sick of regular old ramen a while ago, and I'd read a few stories on how to make ramen more interesting, and wanted to try it. I was inspired to finally do so when the roommate of a friend of mine demonstrated how to use an egg in his ramen.

For mine, we added frozen vegetables, an egg (just drop it into the boiling water and stir it around, or stir and then drop it in and stir again, whatever), and some shredded/cut pre-cooked spiced chicken.

We used two bags of Mama shrimp-flavored ramens and one Top ramen chicken. Only the packets from the two Mama ramens were used (pour them into the boiling water prior to adding anything else), and it was a little bland in the end. Apparently if you use all spice packets, and make sure that the flavors match (ie don't mix shrimp and chicken), then it should come out alright. Mostly the reason I used Mama was because I like the texture of the noodles better than Top.

The idea is basically to make ramen more exciting, so go ahead and add whatever you like that you think will taste good.

Happy experimenting!

Coconut Curry

2011-04-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

This year has been one of enjoying new foods. Up until last night I have not really liked curry much at all, but my friend Megan made some delicious vegetarian curry that I absolutely LOVED.

I was a little worried about the apples, but they turned out tart and delicious (though a little too soft, but maybe that's because we didn't know the potatoes would take so long to cook). I was also concerned about the excessive amount of onion, but seriously they were so good after being imbued with coconut for however long. I was eating them by the spoonful by the end.
Here's the recipe (sorry, I didn't think to take pictures, I didn't know it would be as amazing as it was):

Coconut Milk Curry
from friend Megan, who got it from another person, who recited it from memory

2 potatoes
2 apples
2 carrots
1 sweet onion
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Large pinch of salt
Large pinch of black pepper

Put everything but apples and coconut milk in a pot. Bring to a boil. Turn down to medium and add the apples and coconut milk. Simmer until potatoes are soft, at least half an hour, maybe more. We didn't time it because we just waited for them to be soft.

Serve with white rice!

A Tale of Two (Kinds of) Muffins

2011-03-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've recently learned to love banana bread (as long as there are no nuts). I bought bananas about a month ago and they finally were brown enough to use. The day actually coincided with the day I tried the store brand of apple sauce I'd bought in attempt to save money (note to self: there's usually a reason the store brand is not the leading brand). It turned out to be too gross to eat, but I'm on a strict no-wasting policy now (I've always been bad at this, I'm turning over a new leaf), so I reached back into the files of my memory and recalled a time when I made applesauce muffins with my mom. I think I might've been about four years old. I have no idea. Maybe I wasn't. In any case, I don't remember anything else about them except that I had fun making them, and that they were good.

I googled an applesauce muffin recipe, pulled up a banana bread muffin recipe my friend had given me, and thus began the great muffin project!

It went along pretty much without a hitch (aside from a quick trip to the store mid-mix to get more brown sugar and butter), and I was able to successfully create 36 muffins from scratch in a one-hour window (curse starting late due to distractions and needing to finish on time so you can attend the soccer game of certain amazing boys and girls).

An army of muffins!

All in all, I was really impressed with the taste. We ended up giving 4 to one of the aforementioned soccer-playing girls, 6 to a group of those soccer-playing boys, and 8 to one other soccer-playing boy who really needed them (though I'm certain his roommates ended up eating them too). That left 18 to be consumed by my roommate and I, and boy was it worth every bite (no, we did not eat them all at once. I would have, but that would've been gross). And now, the recipes.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

adapted from Epicurious.com (mine has more spice)

For muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

~2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

~1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (didn't use, which is why there's so much more cinnamon)

~3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

6T butter

1 1/3 cup applesauce

1 cup pecans or walnuts (3 1/2 ounces), coarsely chopped (I omitted. Yuck, nuts!)

For topping:

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

~1 teaspoon cinnamon

~1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (again, didn't use)

~3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Prepare muffins:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Grease muffin pan or line with muffin papers. (The batter makes about 16 muffins)

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then add butter, a little at a time, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in applesauce, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Stir in nuts (if using) and divide batter among muffin cups.

Make topping and bake:

Stir together all topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 18-20 minutes (depending on your oven-- keep an eye on them, you do NOT want these gems to burn).

Banana Muffins

adapted from Cooks.com with tips from my friend Reyna and my own adjustments

1/2 stick butter

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

2 large heaping spoonfuls flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. sour cream

3 mashed ripe bananas

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

1/2 c. chopped pecans (I omitted, again nuts=gross)

Grease or line muffin pan (again makes about 16 muffins). Beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar. Continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add to sour cream to the sugar mixture. Add bananas and pecans (if using). Sift flour, baking powder, soda, and salt together; mix just until well blended. Turn into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven) or until pick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean and they look and smell delicious.

P.S. Forgive my blurry and unprofessional photos. I live in a basement and took them at night.

Long Time, No Eat

2011-03-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

No excuses from me. I'm sorry for the absence.

I actually made this back in January (eek!), possibly even before the soup post, I'm not sure. In any case, I wanted to show y'all that I don't always make desserts, and that I am also capable of making things that don't require several ingredients.

Thus, I give you...

A PLAIN OLD DINNER!!!

Bloo-ree

...And yet, so delicious! I started with frozen chicken tenderloins (cheaper than breast, but I'm definitely paying the extra next time, to avoid tendoniness) and marinated them in Worcestershire sauce/Mesquite spice/thyme/who knows what. I then proceeded to fry them up in olive oil, then steamed some peas in butter, and through some frozen sweet potato fries in the oven until they were (mostly) crispy. Add a side of ranch dressing, and WABAM, dinner!

I was very pleased with myself A) for having something other than macaroni and cheese for dinner, B) for remembering to take a picture of it for posterity, C) for using frozen food successfully, and D) for the marinade actually tasting good, even though I was pretty sure it wouldn't.

I took issue with the stringiness of parts of the meat (again, next time I'll splurge on breast). I was also kind of irritated that the fries were still a little mushy, even after cooking them longer than was required. Maybe that is just the way of sweet potato fries, but I wish it wasn't so.

Okay, I know this was a lame post, but I need to get back into the groove of blogging. It's been far too long.

Cold and Hot

2011-01-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning feeling pretty sick with the beginnings of a cold. I got through about three hours of school before downing a bunch of Ibuprofin, which got me through the next three hours, and as soon as got home I decided I needed to nip this cold in the bud.

The people in my neighborhood swear by green onions as a cold cure, so I decided to try it. Their philosophy is to eat the entire onion raw, and do it again to a few other onions. However, when my roommate tried it out a few months ago, she said she made a soup and just ate them that way. I decided that sounded a lot more appetizing, so I went and bought some green onions and chicken bouillion, and made a lovely soup!

Basically I boiled a little water in a pot, put in about five finely sliced green onions (cut down to about an inch or so above the root), then added two buillion (chicken flavored) cubes into the pot and stirred until the cubes were dissolved. I made sure to inhale the steam of the soup as it cooked, since that's part of the cure apparently.

I was afraid it would taste nasty, or not be salty enough, or some other thing, but it was actually fine just as it was, which was very surprising to me, because I don't like onions hardly at all. I didn't even need to add any salt! I just sipped the hot, hot soup and munched on the onions. Of course, a few saltine crackers didn't hurt.

After eating it all, I feel loads better (although I've downed so much of it I feel like popping), and I think it may have done the trick. So if you're feeling sick, try this out, and let me know if it works for you.

Note: I think there are a number of colloquial grammar mistakes in this post, but I'm chalking it up to being sick :)

Apple Pie

2010-11-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

When I made my first apple pie, I used basically this recipe for the filling, and everything turned out perfectly. That was five or six years ago. I made a few more apple pies since then, but they all turned out pretty gross, to the point where no one wanted to eat them. Mostly it was a problem with the crust, and undoubtedly my focus on that part of the pie made me neglect the filling. In any case, it's been ages since I've tried to make a good pie, but when a pie-making contest was announced for my ward this past Monday, I was motivated to try again (and if it turned out well, I could contribute to Thanksgiving at my sister's).

I mulled it over, and decided that to try to fix the crust would be the best approach. I thought of all the reasons I didn't like pie crust, and determined that (aside from the time I attempted to create a whole-wheat crust-- which you should probably never do) the problem was always that it tasted dry and flavorless. I thought of the crusts I've made for quiche, and how they are flaky and buttery and wonderful. And then I realized butter might just do the trick! Up until that point I'd been using Crisco (and off-brand Crisco at that), so I decided to opt this time for the more flavorful and much-easier-to-work-with option.

Another thing that helped was that I let myself relax. If the pie didn't turn out, that was fine. If it didn't win, that was fine. Don't follow a recipe, just go with your instinct. Luckily I had that background of attempts to build on. In any case, it turned out perfectly. It didn't win, because the winner's crust was crumbly and interesting and amazing, but I heard I had the best filling. And it was the best (read: only) apple pie at Thanksgiving when I made it again yesterday. So I'll keep trying with the crust, and then the pie really will be perfect someday! Hey, I can dream.

Too late for Thanksgiving, but this will work well for Christmas, or for any day of the year, really.

Apple Pie

filling modified from some clipped-out recipe I found when I was fifteen; crust modified from Good Housekeeping

Crust

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

a couple of pinches of salt

3/4 (one and a half sticks) of butter/ vegetable equivelant (or shortening, if you want to go the traditional route)

water

1. Mix flour and salt.

2. Get your butter out an hour or two beforehand to make sure its soft, or leave it on top of the oven while its preheating (but not for too long, or it will melt). Do not microwave the butter!! Not only does it make it too liquidy, but it separates the parts. Just make sure your butter is soft, because if it's too hard, it will be difficult to work with.

3. Cut the butter into little chunks (about 1T each) and plop into the flour mixture. Work in with a fork or pastry cutter until the chunks are considerably smaller, then work in with your hands. This will guarantee the butter is worked in properly.

4. Add water, a tablespoon or two at a time, and work it in. Use your hands to tell when it's ready. The dough should be a little past the point where it's just coming together. Work into a ball.

5. Separate the ball into two parts, one ever so slightly larger than the other. The larger ball will be your bottom crust. Pound and roll out the larger ball into a circle and drape over a 9-inch pie or cake pan lightly dusted with flour on the bottom. Pour in filling.

6. Repeat process with smaller ball. Drape over top of pie, pinching sides together, making the edges look fluted if you so desire. Cut a few slits in the center of the top crust so the filling can breathe and seep as it cooks. Sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon-sugar if you like.

7. Place a cookie sheet under the pie to catch any drippings. Put in oven pre-heated to 425 degrees. Cook for about 40-45 minutes (this will depend on your oven, of course). Pie will be done when the crust is golden brown and apples are tender.

Filling

6 medium red delicious apples (not too tart, not too sweet)

lemon juice (it's better if you use the bottled kind in this case, that way you're not limited to what a lemon will give you)

2 T flour

3/4 c white granulated sugar

pinch or two of salt

2 T cinnamon

1/2 T nutmeg

1. Peel the apples (I found that using a peeler, and not a knife, makes this part far less tedious), cut out the core (make sure you get off all the hard parts of the seed center), and cut into little chunks about the size of a section of your finger (you know...where the joints separate...nevermind). Do it one apple at a time, and sprinkle with lemon juice after each to prevent browning of the apple pieces.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The original recipe called for far less cinnamon and nutmeg, so if you don't like flavor, reduce it all you like. Actually, the measurements I gave you for those two ingredients are more of my estimate. You should go more by what you think smells and looks like enough.

3. Pour the "spice mix" into the apple chunks, and mix up with your hands (or a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Don't bruise the apples.). Pour the mix into the pie crust, and don't forget the leftover goop at the bottom of the bowl!

Gluten Free Thanksgiving

2010-11-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

Every since I did my challenge last year, I've tried to be conscious of that (rather large) group of people out there who love to eat, but are limited by food allergies of various sorts. Anyway, so since Thanksgiving is coming up (and even though I don't know if there's anyone that reads my blog that has needs like this), and everyone has something to be grateful for (like regular foods that don't set off your allergies), I thought I'd direct you towards a couple of blogs that have highlighted gluten-free Thanksgiving foods. Enjoy!

Guten-Free Girl and the Chef

And here

Cannelle et Vanille

Both those bloggers live gluten-free lives, so all (or nearly all) their stuff fits that profile, so you can be safe just searching their blogs for a particular food.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm glad this blog has been going for over a year now :)

Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili

2010-10-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I had some of the best homemade soup I've ever tasted. What surprised me was that it had so many things I usually hate in food (ironically, I'm one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet): chili powder, tomatoes, onions, and pumpkin. Don't get me wrong, all those ingredients are perfectly fine for adding flavor or visual excitement, I just don't like to eat them. Anyway, all of my preconceived notions flew immediately out the window when I tried this soup my friend (not sister) Megan made. It was delicious! I even went back for seconds (and wouldn't have been opposed to thirds...).

I asked Megan to send me the recipe (sorry, no pictures), as well as the changes she made, so here it is for your enjoyment. This is a perfect fall soup/chili, so get on it!

Megan says: "So I actually used a green pepper because the yellow peppers at the store were gross. Also I only used a small can of chicken broth (cause that's all I had) and then added about a half a can of water. I also added more salt at the very end to add more flavor."

Black Bean & Pumpkin Chili

From Taste of Home

Serves: 10 (yields about 2.5 quarts)

1 medium onion, minced

1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed & drained

1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin (make sure it's not the pumpkin pie kind, just the pumpkin puree) Megan also says she isn't sure that hers wasn't pie filling, but at least it wasn't spiced.

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large skillet, saute the onion, yellow pepper & garlic in olive oil for about 2 mins. Add the ground turkey and cook until brown. Transfer to a 5qt slow cooker/crock pot; stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until heated through.

Madeleines

2010-10-10T19:18:00.002-07:00

A couple of months ago I found a madeleine pan at DI (huge thrift store) for $2. Ever since then, I've been wanting to make the yummy-looking scalloped French cakes. Are they cakes? I think they are.

Madeleines

Anyway, this morning I finally got around to it. I gave them to a friend of mine who needed them, but not before my roommate and I tried one (that's the good thing about making not cakes for people-- you can have some and they will never know). They were very lemony, soft, airy, moist, and otherwise delicious. There are a couple of kinds of food I usually have trouble with, and one of them is French pastry. So if this counts as pastry...I'm finally getting the hang of it!

The key flavors in madeleines are butter and lemon, but the key ingredient is egg. The eggs have to be whipped into lighter-than-air goop, otherwise you won't get the airiness. The recipe calls for 4 minutes of high-powered whisking, but since I'm still using my muscles to mix things, it was a little harder to do, and I was worried that they wouldn't be fluffy enough. But I think all this manual labor is paying off, because I got the egg pretty frothy (and my upper arms have been a little sore lately from it all...yay?).

Adding butter to the froth

As for the butter, I'd completely forgotten to restock when I was last at the store, so I used tub butter (or margarine, whatever), and microwaved it (there's a recommended process for the butter in this recipe to melt it on the stove for a while, allowing it to become golden and "nutty," then straining it) and it still turned out okay! I also didn't think there was enough lemon in the zest, so I also squeezed in a bit of the juice (plus I'm focusing on not wasting, so win/win) into the batter, which made it better. Yep.

Zested lemon

Also, the batter only made enough for barely 11 madeleines instead of 12, but I found out after they cooked that it's because I probably put way too much in each form/mold/whatever.

Filling the pan molds

Anyway, now for the recipe. I don't remember where I got it, and usually I'm really good about writing it down, but a good guess would be Smitten Kitchen, or maybe Tartelette. Check 'em both out.

Classic Madeleines [Madeleines Classiques]

adapted from Patisserie Lerch, via Paris Sweets

3/4 cup (105 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking soda

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon to zest a lemon, you basically use the skinny bumpy part of your cheese grater to scrape off the rind. The grated rind is the part you use. Check out the picture if you don't know what I'm talking about.

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces; 70 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Sift together the flour and baking powder and keep close at hand. Working in a mixer fit with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until they thicken and lighten in color, 2 to 4 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Switch to a large rubber spatula and gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal, and chill for at least 3 hours, perhaps longer–chilling helps the batter develop its characteristic crown, known as the hump or the bump. (The batter can be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.)

2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). If your Madeleine pan is not nonstick, generously butter it, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. If the pan is nonstick, you still might want to give it an insurance coating of butter and flour. If it is silicone, do nothing. No matter what kind of pan you have, place it on a baking sheet for easy transportability.

3. Divide the batter among the molds, filling them almost to the top. Don’t worry about smoothing the batter, it will even out as it bakes.

4. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, small ones for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and golden and spring back when touched. Pull the pan from the oven and remove the cookies by either rapping the pan against the counter (the madeleines should drop out) or gently running a butte knife around the edges of the cookies. Allow the madeleines to cool on a cooling rack. They can be served ever so slightly warm or at room temperature.

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-10-10T19:18:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some tips on making your cake as near to perfect as I've been able to get it from dear old me:

1. Line your pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Grease both below and above the paper. This will make it so your cake comes out nice and clean and never sticks. And you just peel off the paper, it's so easy. This is especially important for softer or fluffier cakes.

2. Let the layers cool completely. By this I mean you should probably put them in the freezer, but only if it's a soft cake! If you have a really hard cake (why would you?) don't do this. But generally I like to freeze my cake for about twenty minutes prior to frosting. It just makes it alot easier to work with. You can leave it in the pan or not.

3. Level the layer(s) before frosting. It makes your cake a lot easier to frost because you don't have gaps where the flat part of the top layer meets the dome of the bottom layer. Plus your top layer won't crack because it's uneven. Get a long, serrated knife and level off the top of the bottom layer so that it's flat enough. It doesn't have to be perfectly flat.

4. Shape the cake. Obviously you only do this if you're making a special shape (heart, star, monkey, whatever) or if you're like me and you burn the outer edges of the layers. Use a long, thinnish knife for best maneuverability, especially if you're making a circle.

5. Before frosting, line the outer edge of your plate/platter/whatever with strips of wax paper or parchment paper. Try to layer them so that they overlap a little on the edge. When you're done frosting the whole cake, pull them out at an angle so that frosting goes with it. Now your plate is spotless! (This took some practice for me, and I still mess up sometimes.)

6. Don't use a butter knife to frost. I've found that the best thing to frost with is a rubber spatula, preferably one of the smaller kinds. If you don't have one of those, then any other wide, flattish tool will do just fine. It's a lot easier to frost large areas, and I find that fewer crumbs end up in the frosting. Plus the finish is a lot smoother. Perfect!

7. If your cake is really soft, do a crumb layer of frosting first. I find that this isn't always necessary, but it does help if your cake is crumbly, or if you just want to be a perfectionist, or whatever. Put a thinnish layer of frosting on your cake (it should have crumbs in it, if not, you don't need to do this) and let it refrigerate for a few minutes. Then take it back out and finish frosting, and no more crumbs will get mixed in. Ta da!

P.S. I have no idea why my pictures have been so grainy/pixelated lately. It's quite bizarre.

Dark Chocolate Cake

2010-10-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Last week was my friend/neighbor/home teacher Eric's birthday. So to thank him for being all of those things (yes, even the neighbor thing, because I really do have to borrow cups of milk sometimes, and neighbors are so obliging), and to wish him a happy birthday, I decided to bake him a cake.

I have several cakes on my list of recipes to try, and this one was next. It's a dark chocolate cake recipe I pulled from Martha Stewart's website. After this experiment, I don't think I trust Martha Stewart anymore (there, I said it. Now all the Food People can lynch me). Why? Well, a lot of reasons. Maybe she just doesn't have a dinky basement kitchen with a terrible excuse for an oven at a relatively high altitude. Because I really don't think my exchanging part of the semi-sweet chocolate required for the 100% stuff I found at the farmer's market really should have made that much of a difference, and I don't know what else it could be!

Black label: The Good Stuff.

The batter turned out to be more like dough, even after adding a little extra buttermilk, and beating the mixture as hard as I could (who needs an electric mixer? I'm getting buff!).

Cake Dough?

Anyway, the edges and bottom of each cake layer burned (I made it a three layer cake instead of a two layer one, and no, I don't think that created a problem because the dough was still very stiff). I was quite sad. But I was able to try out a bunch of things that will make your cake look pretty (I think I will do a separate post on those tips, so look for that in the future), and they worked pretty well. I did end up wasting the edges of the cake by cutting them off, though, even though they were burned. I just wish that hadn't happened, especially after I spent the money on the chocolate (hoo boy).

I'm also trying to find uses for leftover ingredients, so I don't have to waste as much. I have a whole half carton of buttermilk left (pancakes? waffles? biscuits?) and a ton of frosting (cupcakes? cake?), so that should be fun for me :)

If you're curious about how the cake ended up tasting, Eric and my other friend Kevin (the two who tried the cake while I was around) say that it is delicious-- way better than boxed mix cake, and you'll need a gallon of milk to get through a small slice. I sort of wish I'd been able to try some, but I think it's weird to ask for part of what you just gave someone. And it was such a tiny cake in the end... But hey! At least I got all that extra frosting, right?

Decorated with almond slivers to make it pretty, and distract you from the fact that it is half the size it's supposed to be.

Dark Chocolate Cake

from Martha Stewart

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans -I'm in the market for free Dutch Process cocoa, just fyi!!! But if you don't have generous donors, go ahead and use regular cocoa, that's what I did
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted -Or mix in some darker stuff if you can find it, and if you feel up to the richness!
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
Dark Chocolate Ganache (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter two (or three if you're like me and you wanted a second chance after the other cake) 8-inch round cake pans; dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. Line bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer (or your Governator arm strength), beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in chocolate and vanilla. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in three parts and buttermilk in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. -Like I mentioned earlier, I had to add extra buttermilk and my "batter" still turned out like soft bread dough...weird)

Divide batter between prepared pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes -Mine only had to cook for about 30 mins, and like I said, they burned! So keep a close eye on them, especially if your batter ends up like mine did. Cool in pans 15 minutes; run a knife around edge of each pan, and invert cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely. -I usually refrigerate/freeze my cakes pre-frosting for about ten to fifteen minutes so they're nice and firm for the frosting process, but that was probably a bad idea in this case, because the edges got nice and hard-- as in too hard to allow for a cake I was giving to someone else.

Set a rimmed baking sheet upside down on a work surface -Yes, thank you Martha, that seems excessive. But go ahead if you want to. Place one cake on sheet, and spread top with 1/3 of ganache. Place second cake on top, and spread remaining ganache over top and sides of cake. Using two wide metal spatulas, carefully transfer frosted cake to a serving platter.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups heavy cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a boil. Remove from heat; add 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, and let stand, without stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk just until combined. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until spreadable, about 1 hour. -You can pop it in the freezer to speed up the process, but make sure you keep a VERY CLOSE eye on it so it doesn't get too hard, especially around the edges. This WILL happen. Trust me. If you neglected it (hum...like me...) and it gets a bit too hard, let it sit out for a while, or maybe put it in a warm area until it softens. But don't let it soften too much, or you've begun a vicious cycle.

P.S. Please pardon the grainy pictures. Even with my super-fancy $100 Cosco camera that serves me so well, I live in a basement with no light, and it was after dark anyway. So there.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we were all hanging out at my sister Megan's, and she made these de-licious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (way better than store bought, although maybe not as big) in honor of fall. And since I haven't actually convinced anyone to actually be a guest blogger, here is simply the recipe.

Pumpkin Cookies

from Megan, who got it from her old friend Candice

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin (plain canned or smooth pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie mix!)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour

optional: chocolate chips

Cream shortening, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add pumpkin. Mix dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. If desired, add chocolate chips.
Pumpkin and chocolate
Drop onto cookie sheet with spoon or size 40 ice cream scoop.
Sweet-smelling dough balls
Bake at 350 F for 10 to 15 minutes. This recipe works fine at high altitudes.
Golden.

Strawberry Thyme Shortbread Cookies

2010-09-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make these cookies for over a year, but never got around to it because it involves something I've never done before, and frankly was afraid wouldn't work for me-- drying strawberries. It sounds easy enough, right? Well, it wasn't. And it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. But I went ahead and used them in the dough anyway, even though it was more a strawberry mush, rather than the dried strawberry chips I was expecting.

The ingredients

Also, I'd like you to know that it requires a lot of patience to pull fresh thyme leaves off without getting any stem (nobody likes to be picking sticks out of their teeth). Yes.

Thyme twigs

This blog is all about making do with what you have sometimes, and this recipe was no exception. I used a cup and plastic wrap to roll out the dough, since I have no rolling pin to speak of (though I have mentioned I'm in the market for a nice French one).

Waiting to be rolled out

Since I don't own a cookie cutter (and may not until years from now, unless it's in a goofy shape like a ghost maybe), I tried all number of lids in different sizes until finding that the lid to the cooking spray actually worked perfectly. It even had a tiny hole in the top to vent the air as I pushed down into the dough.

Cutting cookies (notice the outlines of all the other lid cutouts I tried...)

Chilling the dough

Anyway, I'm glad I finally made these, my kitchen smells like buttery spice and my fingers smell like thyme.

Dried Strawberries and Thyme Shortbread Cookies

from Tartelette

Makes about 2 dozen cookies (depending on the size of your cutter)

1 cup strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

1 stick butter (113gr) butter at room temperature

1/4 cup (50gr) sugar

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups (188gr) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme

pinch of salt

1/2 tablespoon of milk

Preheat your oven to 250F.

Place the strawberry slices in one single layer on a parchment paper line baking sheet and let them dry in the oven for about one hour. Let them cool completely. Chop the dried slices in small pieces and set aside. (I was out of parchment paper and had to use tin foil instead. Maybe that was part of the problem? But still, they shouldn't have been mushy...)

Turn the oven to 350F.

In a stand mixer (or by hand, this dough is very easy to mix), beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour, thyme, dried strawberries, pinch of salt and the milk and beat until the ingredients are just started to come together.

Stop the mixer and finish mixing the dough with your hands on a work surface.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies with your desired cookie cutter and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until just golden brown around the edges.

Supposed to be good with Strawberry Ice Cream.

Gluten-Free Expo

2010-09-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Next weekend is the Gluten Free Expo. I want to go, because since my challenge last year, I've been interested in solving the mystery that turned out to be Gluten-Free Cooking. There will be demonstrations and free samples, and I think it will be fun!

Would anyone be interested in attending with me? $6 only.

A Wonky Sort of Cake

2010-09-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

For Megan's birthday, I made her a chocolate peanut butter cake-- or rather, a chocolate sour cream cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and a chocolate peanut butter glaze. Man, that sounds cool. Anyway, it turned out tasting better than it looked, for many reasons, but OH it was delicious. Even the aforementioned sister (who actually loves dark chocolate, but doesn't much care for cake...I was wrong) loved it.

Caaaaake....

Anyway, it was my first three-layered cake, which is really no excuse for the shape, but rather because I didn't have a third cake pan, so I used a Marie Callender's pie tin for the top layer. Also, since I was making it in a tiny kitchen with limited time (meetings, etc starting at noon, and I was leaving for Megan's right after them), so I sort of sped through the various chilling processes, and my frosting "crumb layer" was actually the only layer (not to say the frosting wasn't piled on thickly anyway). And the glaze chilled for about 4 hours (during all those meetings I mentioned...), which is about 3 and a half hours longer than it needed to, so it was a nice hard chocolate shell (read: a rock-hard shell that had me freaking out a bit and rapping on it with my knuckles to test it's strength), but luckily a ride in the hot car to Springville softened it up and everything was fine in the end. Phew!

It occurred to me that some of you (crazy) people out there might not believe that I actually make the stuff I post, so I tried to take a few "in the process" shots this time. Unfortunately the lighting in our basement kitchen is terrible, so these don't look very good. But I've incorporated them in all the same!

The inner workings.

Now, without further ado, the recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

from Smitten Kitchen, who took it from the book "Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes"

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle (I skipped this and so did Smitten)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper. Somehow when I read this, I read it as "butter and flour the paper," which is something that you do sometimes. Anyway, it didn't really need to be done I suppose, but I like that there was absolutely no stickage, so I'm going to recommend you do it, but it's apparently not necessary.
Pans waiting for batter (minus the pie tin)
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
Vinegar makes the batter bubble, which makes the cake airy. Cool!
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (although mine only needed to cook for about 28 minutes, but our oven is a little weird), or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this.

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Once the cake is fully frosted, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top with chopped peanut brittle.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups
I have a few words to say here. First of all, I hate that cream cheese always comes in 8-oz packages, I've yet to see a 10 oz one. So I had to buy two cream cheese things, and I know I'll never use the last of it, because I don't eat that kind of cream cheese. Also, I had tons of frosting leftover, so in theory I could've only gotten 8 oz and it would have been okay (but then, of course, you'd have to alter the amounts of the other ingredients. I'd say probably 3 oz butter, 1/2 c peanut butter (unless you want it more peanut buttery) and maybe 4 1/4 cups of sugar. Of course, I only had about that much sugar anyway, because a certain person living with me loves to eat my food the day I buy it, and I didn't quite have enough sugar. Hmph. But if your frosting is too runny, add more. If you ran out, the chilling will hold it together, so no worries. Also, I must emphasize once again, HAVE YOUR BUTTER (and cream cheese) AT ROOM TEMP before mixing. I know I say this all the time, but it really does make all the difference (especially when making frosting)! Also, if your cream cheese is softened (and not zapped in the microwave), it makes it easier to mix, and the frosting less chunky. Such was my problem, because I didn't have time to let it sit out. Alas.

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out) Hey ho, I had the store brand and I did just fine!

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

8 ounces seimsweet chocolate, coarsely chopped or broken into pieces, like I love to do
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup I sure wish corn syrup came in smaller containers than they do. Anyone need any?
1/2 cup half-and-half I used heavy whipping cream because it came in a smaller package and was cheaper, but that's just me.
1. In the top of double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Another note: Smitten says this cake is rich, and I scoffed at that, thinking of how much I love chocolate and all that. But she didn't lie! It seriously is. Mostly it's the frosting that's rich (though incredibly delicious), but still, keep a glass of milk nearby. A very LARGE glass.

Oreo Bonbons

2010-09-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

My sister Megan got these for her birthday last week from a friend. She let me try a couple (thank you!) and they were delicious. Megan said other people that tried them said they were too rich after only one, but she was popping them in her mouth over and over. Of course, our family is known for our high tolerance (read: appreciation) for good chocolate, except for one sister, but we won't go there right now. Anyway, keep a glass of milk handy in case you're one of the less tolerant folk out there. Actually, I vote using dark chocolate instead of the milk or semi-sweet (I can't quite tell, the cookie center is so dark) used on the bonbons in this picture.

Oreo Bonbons

from Megan's friend Kristin

1 package Oreos cookies

8 oz cream cheese (left out to get soft)

almond bark or chocolate melted with crisco or butter

1. Grind Oreos in food processor.

2. Add cream cheese until thoroughly mixed. It will look a little like cookie dough.

3. Roll into 1" balls. Freeze one hour.

4. Coat with melted almond bark or chocolate.

5. Store in fridge. Eat. Yum!

Lesson #1

2010-09-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

You should probably follow the suggestions that say "keep frozen" and "do not thaw"

Or else don't forget that you left them on the counter to soften them up.

Note: This is not a personal experience, but rather that of my roommate's. Luckily the dough was still good after exploding over night, and we all had a good laugh. And good cinnamon rolls :)

Caprese and Adventures with Artisan Salami

2010-09-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were hanging around at my sister and brother-in-law's house, and my other sister and her husband made caprese for us all. I didn't actually have any, because I rather hate the taste of tomatoes (trust me, I know it's sad, especially for someone who loves Italian food), but they looked delicious, and were super easy to make.

You slice the tomatoes and sprinkle ground thyme, salt, and pepper onto the slices. Then you place a leaf of fresh basil on top of the spiced tomatoes, and finally place a mozzarella ball (they come in a little tub you can get in the cheese section at your grocery store) on top of it all. Done!

Also last night, we attempted to eat some of the artisan salami I'd gotten for free from Creminelli for taking a survey on their packaging. I was actually really excited. Now, to be honest, I eat very little meat for health reasons, but I was willing to try this salami. I mean, really, how often do you get to sample artisan salami? That's right.

Cacciatore, Sopressata, and Wild Boar salamis

So I opened the package and was a little surprised to see two hard white blobs connected with string. Salami, what?

Then my sister Megan piped in and reminded me about a guy she'd seen on tv (and told me about only a few days before) who made "fancy" meats, and left them in a room to be covered in mold, because that made them fancier. So I ran to the computer to see if I could find anything that would shed some light on how to eat the "meat" I'd been given. I went to the Creminelli website and read about how their excessively fine meats were made in the Italian tradition (read with a stuffy voice and wave your hand around in a sophisticated manner), and that the moldy casing could be removed simply by allowing the meat to rest at room temperature for about twenty minutes, then cut off the tip and slice down the edge, peeling the casing as you went. All well and good, but when I went back downstairs and attempted this, the white "casing" could not be persuaded to separate from the rest of the meat. I also discovered that while I was researching, Megan had eaten a bit of the meat (I don't think she ever told me how it tasted), white mold included, much to my amazement, despite the fact that the "fancy" meat guy on tv had served his meat moldy, with the expectation that consumers would eat that part also. Yuck. I tried to convince my niece and nephew that they didn't need to eat any moldy meat, despite the fact that Mommy had just done so. The smell of very old gym shoes began to permeate the air. I stopped sawing at the meat and sniffed at the white powder rubbing off on my fingers. Yes, it was indeed eau de gym shoe. Needless to say, I was frustrated and a little put out that we didn't get to try any artisan salami, and it all ended up in the trash. Despite Creminelli's insistance that their artisan salami never goes bad, I am convinced that I got a bad bunch. Otherwise, how can people eat that? Call me uncultured, but Gross. Capital G.

Sorbet...As Promised!

2010-09-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

This summer, I constantly craved fruity ice cream. I never actually got any at the time I was craving it, but that's okay. I read up on sorbets, and the importance of the balance between water and sugar in your sorbet, so that it isn't too icy or too sticky, but just right on all accounts. I looked around for a berry sorbet recipe I could make, but most of them called for various types of alcohol (because alcohol lowers the freezing point and keeps it from getting too icy), and since it wouldn't be cooked (and therefore burned off), I kept looking for an alcohol-free one. I finally found one from a blog called The Hungry Mouse. I substituted raspberries for the blackberries, and made it when I was visiting my parents in California (they have an ice cream maker, and I, alas, do not). The prognosis? So delicious. But very expensive to make, so I'd recommend acquiring berries from a local vine if possible (free!). But definitely make it, it's very easy and very tasty.

Raspberry Sorbet

from the Hungry Mouse (more and more detailed pictures of each step on here)

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup water
24 oz. fresh blackberries
2 Tbls. fresh lemon juice

1. Combine sugar and water in medium-sized saucepan.

2. Set the pot on the stove over high heat. Whisk occasionally until the sugar dissolves.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil for about 2 minutes, just to be sure that all the sugar is dissolved.

4. Remove the pot from the heat. Cool the mixture to room temperature, then put it in the fridge or freezer and chill it completely through.

5. When your simple syrup is completely chilled, you’re ready to make your sorbet. Grab your blackberries/raspberries/whatever and pick through them to get rid of any that are bruised or moldy or whatever.

6. Put about half of the berries in the blender and
about half of the chilled simple syrup.

7. Puree on high for about 30 seconds, or until the berries are completely liquified.

8. Strain the berry mixture.
Set a strainer over a large bowl. Pour the berry mixture through the strainer.

9. It’ll be fairly thick and there will be lots of seeds, so stir it with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to push it through.
Push the berry pulp through the strainer with your spatula to squeeze out the last of the liquid.

10. Blend and strain the remaining blackberries and simple syrup. Then pour the lemon juice into the strained mixture. Stir to combine.

11. Because you chilled the simple syrup, your mixture should still be fairly cold. Pour it into your ice cream maker. Process according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Hungry Mouse says for their Cuisinart model, that means processing for about 25 minutes. For whatever model my parents have, it was closer to 40.

12. As the mixture processes, it’ll get thicker.
When it’s done, it should be about the texture of soft ice cream.

13. Transfer it to a freezer-safe container. A loaf bread pan works very well.

14. Smooth out the surface. Press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface, then pinch it tight around the edges of the pan. Put into the freezer for at least few hours (ideally, overnight), until it’s completely frozen. It should be firm, but still very scoopable. If it's still soft and mooshy on the inside, like mine was, let it freeze a bit longer, unless you have hungry family members breathing down your necks, wanting their fruity frozen dessert.

What, Dead my Dove?

2010-09-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I deserve thirty lashes for neglecting the blog this long. June 15th, really?!??
Anyway, school has just started up again, and internet is down at home until this weekend, so I may not get around to blogging right away. But! I do have one recipe on the way (hopefully it isn't too "Fall" already in the weather that you won't want to try it) that is really delicious and also really nice for hot days.

In the mean time, I loved the look of this peach shortbread from Smitten Kitchen that she posted today, so I thought I'd direct your attention to it, since peaches are in season (are they? I'm such a bad foodie...I should know this). I just called myself a foodie. Hm...

The Frying Pan Thing

2010-06-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I put a "frying pan dome" or something over the nachos to make the cheese melt. To clarify, I just put a hot frying pan upside-down over the plate. It's very easy. Look, here is a picture to show you how easy it is:

And here is another picture to show you even more how easy it is:

Just make sure the pan is both hot enough to melt the cheese, and big enough so that the stuff doesn't touch the pan. Just leave it covered until the cheese is sufficiently melted. Ta-da!

Nachos à la Cafe Rio

2010-06-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon my roommate and I were craving Cafe Rio nachos but didn't feel like spending the $9 each for them, so we went to Rancho Market and bought some delicious tortilla chips

We then heated up some black beans and tossed them and some cheese over the pile of chips and heated it up by putting a hot frying pan domed over the plate (a much more effective technique for melting cheese than a microwave). And in the end, I was glad we only paid the couple of dollars for the bag of chips, because they were just as good as Cafe Rio chips!

Omelettes

2010-05-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

I've been on an egg kick lately, mostly because that's like all I have (actually, one of my roommates has like a crate of eggs, so I guess I'm just using hers). Anyway, I've been trying a few different "interesting" ingredients like the leftover goat cheese and fresh basil. Tonight I sauteed some diced red bell pepper and zucchini in olive oil, garlic salt, and onion, then put them in an omelette with a five-cheese "Italian" blend leftover from when we made pizza for my birthday last Friday (which I totally forgot to take pictures of, otherwise I'd blog about that too, but no worries, since we plan to make LOTS of pizza this summer).

Anyway, so this omelette was seriously heaven. The egg was so fluffy! I was thrilled. So I think there are a few things I should tell you about how to make a nice, fluffy omelette.

1. The pan must be already hot, but not scalding obviously.

2. Medium-low heat for a longer period of time (however long it takes).

3. I like to cook one side, then flip it and cook the other side just barely long enough to get rid of wriggly egg, because that's gross to me, but professionals (yes, it's pathetic, but I've researched how to cook eggs) like a really low heat so the egg is still wriggly. Gross. And not as fluffy.

4. Whip your eggs well. I whip them with a dash of milk, but my mom always used an eggshell-full of water. I just feel like it's fluffier with milk, and more than an eggshell-full. You should probably experiment to see what you like best.

But the fillings are what really make the omelette. What do you like in yours?

Niño Envuelto

2010-05-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Growing up, we sometimes got what I always called "Mexican sweet rolls." The only place I ever saw them sold was at Major Market, our local grocery store. But after several years, they stopped selling them. I saw them once at a lonely gas station snack shop in the middle of central California on a long band trip in high school, but they were moldy, and I didn't buy them. But the delicious pink coconutty jelly roll often resurfaced in my mind.

And then, two days ago, an ad came in the mail for Rancho Markets in downtown Provo (1700 N State Street). And there, on the back page, the little rolls were advertised as Niño Envuelto and 2 for $1!

So yesterday I Shanghai'd my roommate and we went down to Rancho Markets and bought out their stock (don't worry, there were only three left). They were just as delicious as I remembered, though with the unnecessary addition of a few rainbow candy sprinkles on the edge (though not enough to annoy me thoroughly).

I think you should go on a search for a food you loved as a kid.

Sandwiches

2010-05-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

One thing I really loved about England was the great variety of delicious sandwiches available. They totally kick American sandwiches to the curb. Peanut butter and jelly? Psh. Try asparagus, basil, rocket, and goat cheese on an artisan baguette. Delish.

Today I was missing good food, so my roommate and I made a trip to the farmer's market and picked up some ingredients for our own yummy sandwiches. Hers had salami, turkey, pepper jack cheese, myzithera cheese, red bell pepper, zucchini, and apples, buttered and fried (basically, everything but the kitchen sink). Mine had soft goat cheese, basil, and zucchini lightly sauteed in olive oil. Both our sandwiches were on a multigrain baguette. I can't say I was transported back to England by the sandwich, but it was definitely one of the best I've ever made.

I think I'll make a goat cheese and basil omelette with the leftover goods. Mmm?

The Walrus and the Carpenter

2010-05-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

In Bath we found a rather awesome little restaurant to have lunch at. It was called "The Walrus and the Carpenter," and...well, it was just quaint and had a fun atmosphere. Edith Piaf serenaded us, and old show posters covered the walls (literally, there was barely any bare space). All the meals came with delicious hot pita slices.

In a word: Yum.

Walrus and the Carpenter

28 Barton Street

Bath, UK

Simply Scrumptious Cafe

2010-05-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in London enjoying culture and the English life. The first day we got here, we went to the Simply Scrumptious Cafe in Hamsptead.
This charming little cafe had a lot to choose from both food and drink-wise. We all got sandwiches and water, and it was all very tasty.

Simply Scrumptious Cafe

On Flask Way (just off of the High Street) towards the Heath
Hampstead, London, England, UK

Food

2010-04-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what this is called, but I know it was delicious. I came home from work last night and was starving, but had no obvious meals to prepare, so I threw this together:

I used leftover pocket bread from Sunday (beginning to stale, but still delicious), scrambled up some eggs in olive oil with a little basil, garlic salt, and pepper, and heated up some black beans with a little garlic and onion.

Then I piled the eggs and beans on the bread and topped it with some shredded colby jack cheese, and voila! Yummy dinner. Sometimes I love using random stuff I have lying around.

Kuhbz Arabi and Baba Ghannouj

2010-04-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight my Anth 215 professor is hosting a Bedouin Mansef at her cabin in Heber. It'll be a little weird to hang out with these people outside of class, even though we all spend so much time together (most of them are in at least 3/4 of my classes). I'll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, here are two recipes for you:

Arabic Pocket Bread (Kuhbz Arabi)

From some book of Dr Finlayson's

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 (1/4-oz) pkgs active dry yeast (or 2 T)

1 T salt

About 6 cups all-purpose flour, sifted -I only needed 5 cups...though I'm not sure why

2 T vegetable oil -I used olive oil. It just seems healthier or something.

Pour warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water. Stir until dissolved. Add salt. Gradually add 6 cups of flour and oil, kneading constantly, until dough is smooth and elastic. If dough sticks to your hands, add more flour.

Place in a large greased bowl (I just used more oil). Turn dough to grease all sides. Cover with a dry cloth towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Now might be a good time to cook your eggplant if you want to use the oven to do so, and you're making Baba Ghannouj.

Punch down gently. Preheat oven to 375F. Divide dough into 24 equal portions; or, if larger pockets are desired, 12 portions. Mine only made 17 small portions, probably because I only used 5 cups of flour. Shape each portion into a smooth ball. Place on a floured surface. Sprinkle tops lightly with flour and cover with dry cloth towel. Let rest 15 minutes.

Grease baking sheets (Again, I just used some oil). Roll out each portion of dough to a six-inch circle or 14-inch for large. Place on prepared baking sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes for small pocket breads, and 12 to 15 minutes for large pocket breads or until bread puffs. If desired, place pale-side up under broiler to brown slightly (I didn't do this-- it seemed irrelevant) Place hot bread immediately in a plastic bag (Actually, I highly recommend you DO NOT do this. I put my first two directly in there and it melted the plastic. Yikes. Just let them cool a few minutes first, then put them in the bag. Or use tupperware or something, its more durable.)

Serve warm, or cool in bag and refrigerate.

Yummy pocket bread waiting for the bag

Eggplant-Sesame Dip (Baba Ghannouj)

From some book of Dr Finlayson's

1 large eggplant

1/2 cup sesame-seed paste (tahini paste -don't confuse it with tsatsiki, they're completely different)

2 T vegetable oil or olive oil

Juice of two lemons (or 6 T)

2 garlic cloves, cut in halves

Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Chopped parsley or pomegranate seeds, if desired (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 400F. Use a fork to pierce eggplant in several places. Place pierced eggplant on oven rack and bake for 1 hour or until soft. If using microwave oven, bake pierced eggplant at full power (HIGH) 5 minutes or until soft. Cool (it sort of takes a while, but if you don't mind burning your hands a little, you don't have to wait until it's completely cooled). Peel. Dice pulp into a blender or food processor. Add sesame-seed paste, oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Process until mixture is smooth and pale. Spoon into a serving bowl. Garnish with parsley or pomegranate seeds, if desired. Makes about 2 cups.

Hot, wrinkly purple skin. Can you say "Yum"? I can't.

The final product.

I could make a shoe out of this...

Raspberry Friands

2010-03-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

These things are more than just really cute (yes, it is possible for a food to be adorable, as it turns out); they're also really good. Made with almond flour, fresh raspberries, and way more sugar than you'd like, they're the perfect little cakes for tea or hot chocolate or eating just because, and an excellent blend of sweet almondy cake and tart, seedy raspberries. Yum.

See what I mean by "cute"?

Friands

From Use Real Butter, who says the recipe is "slightly modified from Donna Hay’s Modern Classics 2"

4 oz (125g or 1/2 cup if you're boring and still use that system) butter, unsalted

1 cup almond meal

1 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

5 egg whites (it's a lot of whites, so you might feel bad about wasting all those yokes. Make an omelette or ice cream or just throw them away)

1/2 tsp almond extract (optional) I recommend it, it adds the best bit of almondy goodness

1/3/ cup raspberries, fresh (or any berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Place butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook until melted and a light golden color. Set aside.

Place the almond meal, confectioner’s sugar, flour, and baking powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Stir the egg whites into the dry mix until combined.

Pour in the butter and stir until completely combined. Stir in the almond extract (optional).

Grease a dozen 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins or tins of any type. I actually went out and bought a square-tinned pan because I felt like it made it fancier. Also, I didn't want people to automatically think they were muffins, because they're really nothing like them.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each tin and plop a few berries on top. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and spring back when you touch them. Makes a dozen (or more). I actually had enough batter leftover for a thirteenth, but it didn't seem worth it, so I just added it to a few of the other squares. It kind of enveloped the berries a little, so I don't really recommend that if you're going for looks. You want to be able to see all the berries.

Trout

2010-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not an enormous fan of fish, especially the really fishy-fish, like trout. But my friend Autumn had some trout and we thought "what-the-hey let's make it." So we did. And I'm told it was deeelicious (my part didn't actually get cooked all the way, so I couldn't eat it after the first initial bites, but Autumn loved hers, and I'll take her word for it).

It was prepared sort of make-shift-ly because 1. I've never made trout before, let alone a whole fish 2. We're college kids, so we used what was on hand (ie limes instead of lemons, which turned out to be a really excellent choice)

Anyway, so we stuffed it and surrounded it with butter, sliced up some limes, covered it in garlic salt and basil, and popped it in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Of course, Autumn has a really weird/tempermental oven, and the top side wasn't entirely cooked through (see above) and I could seriously taste the river it came from (it was fished out by Friend Paul from a river somewhere in southern Utah). But it smelled heavenly and as I mentioned before, Autumn said it tasted really good.

We ate it with rotini in cream sauce and sauteed zucchini and tomatoes. Yum.

Egg

2010-02-15T09:14:00.000-08:00

When I was making the blueberry cake yesterday, I noticed, to my happy surprise, that I was holding the shell of a NATURAL EASTER EGG!!!!

Yeah, well I think it looks like one. See the spots and stripes? That's one artistic chicken.

Blueberry Cake

2010-02-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

The actual name of this delicious blueberry cake is "Blueberry Boy Bait," but that sounds sort of ridiculous, even though when I made it last summer and fed it to two boys, one of them totally started dating me...even though he was going to anyway. Regardless, this blueberry cake is delicious, and since there're blueberries in it (antioxidants! vitamins! health!) you can completely justify having it for breakfast, as I did this morning.

I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen (I swear she's going to sue me one of these days) and didn't really do much to change it because it's perfect the way it is. Apparently she adapted it from Cook's Country (okay, so no suage from this recipe at least). Okay, now go make it.

Blueberry Boy Bait Cake

from Smitten Kitchen/ Cook's Country

2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon (The 1t is for the blueberries later)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened Just a reminder kids-- you should probably never completely melt your butter unless the recipe says to do so. The consistency is much better if it's merely softened.
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk Smitten used buttermilk, and so did I because it makes it seem fancier and tastier.
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter) I might blame it on the fact that I'm terrible at math, but I really just wanted more blueberry-ness in the cake, so instead of 1/2 cup I used a whole...six ounces instead of half a cup for both the cake and the topping. Go on and laugh now, I bet they're the same, aren't they?*

Topping
*1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan. I thought I had my 13x9" pan with me, but I didn't, and didn't find that out until I had already made the batter. A request to the above-mentioned boy yielded no results, so I had to run next door and dramatically ask my neighbors if they had a pan, which luckily they did. I rewarded them with some cake.
Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

For the topping:
Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.) But you'll probably eat it all by then. Probably.

Black-Bottomed Cupcakes

2010-02-07T14:03:00.001-08:00

I love cupcakes. It would be unhealthy if I had easy and/or constant access to them, but since I don't, I'm safe. What's fun about cupcakes is that they're like cakes...for your hand! So cool.

These cupcakes are really dense and almost just as rich, so they're probably not your third grade class birthday party cupcakes, but they're still really good.

I got it from Smitten Kitchen, and since I'm feeling lazy and don't really have anything to add to her instructions, I'll just post it right in here.

Black-Bottomed Cupcakes

from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: 12 full-size or approximately 30 mini cupcakes

For the filling: (It was more like a topping for me, but it's still tasty)
8 ounces cream cheese, regular or reduced fat, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the filling: Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 12-cup muffin tin, or line the tin with paper muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons* of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely,** which is fine.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These moist treats will keep well unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container.
Two notes:
* If you choose to go mini for these, keep the filling at a tablespoon or less, lest you run out, as, ahem, someone else may have.
** Though I’ve only made this recipe one, and therefore don’t think you should take my input as absolute authority, I’ve got to advise against actually letting these guys fill up. Not an issue if you’re going full-size, but if you go mini, aim for 90 percent full.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-02-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

This recipe comes from my darling sister Megan. She makes excellent high altitude peanut butter cookies, which I recently found out can be made into an even more excellent (yes it is possible) chocolate version!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

from Megan Swinford

1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 c peanut butter
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c gran. sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 ENTIRE package (normal sized) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake at 400 for around 7 minutes, depending on your oven.

Tips Megan has found helpful:

In the wet/sugar ingredients, add everything but the egg and peanut butter and blend that well first, then add the egg and beat it in, then add the peanut butter before creaming that in as well. Then add the flour mixture.

Cover the bowl of dough and stick in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes before baking so that the cookies will be nice and chewy-soft.

Don't over bake!

FOR REGULAR/NON-CHOCOLATE VERSION:

Replace ¼ cup of cocoa with another 1/4 cup of flour and omit chocolate chips.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

2010-01-23T10:22:00.001-08:00

Back in October I was invited to the house of my grandparents' friends in order for them to try and set me up with their grandson. We had dinner and a delicious dessert of chocolate zucchini cake. It was so surprisingly good that I asked the hostess for the recipe, which she kindly gave me.

I thought that putting the cake into cupcake form would make it both a little more fun and a lot less fuss to eat. So I did! And they are still delicious, days later. I'm pretty sure my roommates even ate more of them than I did.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

from Marilyn Hughes

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

½ cup butter, softened but not completely melted

½ cup oil or applesauce I suggest applesauce. That's what I used and that's what Marilyn Hughes used.

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup sour milk (½ c milk and 1 ½ tsp vinegar or lemon) This was my first time using sour milk-- I was afraid we'd be able to taste the chunks of curdled milk, but we couldn't. If you're nervous about that, you could probably strain them out before you add the milk to the recipe.

2 ½ cups flour

½ tsp all spice

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

¼ cup cocoa powder

2 cup grated zucchini

½ to 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix dry and wet ingredients together in separate bowls, then combine, adding the zucchini and chocolate chips last to the combined batter.

2. For cupcakes, bake in a muffin pan lined with muffin papers at 325 for about 40 minutes. For two round cakes, bake in greased round cake pans at 325 degrees Farenheit for 45-60 minutes.

I didn't put any frosting on because they didn't need any. If you're eating it as a round cake, it's good with some vanilla ice cream and/or chocolate syrup (or fudge syrup!)

Makes about 30 cupcakes or two round cakes.

Café des Artistes

2010-01-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

A while ago I told all of you (three) readers out there that I wanted you to review one of your favorite little food shops, if you had one. Ma chére maman came through and wrote this lovely review of the Cafe des Artistes in my dear old hometown of Fallbrook, California. I'd like to add that I have some fond memories of this particular soda fountain, though I liked it better when it was part of the drugstore. I'm feeling in an old-timey mood and listening to a little Glenn Miller, Harry James, and Benny Goodman so this post is perfect:

I'm an aficionado of old-fashioned drugstore soda fountains, so imagine my pleasure (if you can) upon discovering, when we moved to Fallbrook back in the 1980s, the Historic soda fountain in Harrison's Rexall drugstore on Main Street. I read in some news article once that there were only two original soda fountains left in San Diego County (one in Fallbrook and one in Julian), and that the rest of them had been torn down or torn out when old stores were remodeled. I don't know if that's true, but I think I believe it because I haven't seen a lot of soda fountains around. Not that I frequent drugstores all that much, but I do look for soda fountains when I have the opportunity. Not only did I take my kids to Harrison's when they were younger so they could experience Ye Olde Slice of Americana, but we also went to the one in Julian a couple of times. (Incidentally, there's also a cool old soda fountain drugstore called Bulloch's on Main Street in Cedar City, UT, and I go there whenever I stop in town.) Well, I don't know how old the Historic soda fountain in Harrison's drugstore really was, because the Harrisons only moved their business there (from another Fallbrook location) in 1962. But it looked old (as compared to the Julian soda fountain, which looks Olde) and it looked cool in a retro way, with the counter and the swivel stools, and it was fun going there.

Sadly, the Harrisons closed their drugstore in 1995, and I think for a while there was some danger of the Historic soda fountain going the way of the rotary dial telephone, but eventually the building was split into two interconnecting parts, with the Fallbrook Art & Cultural Center taking up residence in the half fronting on Main Street, and a little eatery called Café des Artistes settling in the back, complete with Historic soda fountain. It is currently owned and/or operated by a guy named Michael who, I'm told, is from New York. The few times I've been in there and dealt directly with Michael, I've found him accomodating and efficient, but other people have told me he's rather brusque and sometimes borders on rude. I think maybe it's a case of easy-going Fallbrookians not being used to back east manners. In my opinion, it would be a problem only if Michael were a doctor.

The café now features what one reviewer calls a gourmet Mediterranean menu. I don't know about that, but I've had some really good soups and sandwiches and salads and desserts there. The selections are rather expensive, especially compared to the prices one paid back in the days of Rexall, but it's a good place to take a friend for better-than-average food in a casual atmosphere.

That being said, what I am looking for when I visit the soda fountain - or any soda fountain - is not just a slice of Americana, but a good chocolate ice cream soda made with chocolate ice cream. Ice cream sodas are becoming just about as rare as soda fountains, believe it or not. Coldstone doesn't make them. Baskin-Robbins used to, but stopped a number of years ago. There used to be a chain of Betsy Ross Ice Cream Shoppes where they made them, too, but that's no longer around. It's kind of a sad day for the ice cream soda.

I'm a connoisseur of chocolate ice cream sodas made with chocolate ice cream. It's been decades since I first started requesting that kind of soda, but I think I got the idea from a 1940s article on the actress Ginger Rogers, who loved ice cream so much she had her own soda fountain in her house. Whatever the source of my inspiration, I learned early on that you have to be very specific or you don't get what you want. First, you have to say "chocolate ice cream soda", not just chocolate soda. Because a chocolate soda is just that: soda water and chocolate syrup. Then, you have to specify "with chocolate ice cream", because a chocolate ice cream soda generally means soda, chocolate syrup, and vanilla ice cream. There were a few occasions when I sadly had to eat the less than satisfactory results of my communicative errors, and subsequent other occasions when the soda jerk sadly had to take back the mistakes he or she tried to foist on me and start over again, paying better attention to my specific wording. (The worst soda I ever had was at a Baskin-Robbins in England, when the soda jerk - or in this case, just the jerk - either didn't know the first thing about sodas or was extraordinarily forgetful. At any rate, he didn't include any syrup, so what I got was basically a soda water float. Blecchh! England: great fish and chips, but not the place to buy classically American food, like hot dogs and ice cream sodas.)

So how does Michael at the Café des Artistes measure up in the ice cream soda department? Very well indeed. Utilizing the Historic soda fountain, the drinks are made the old-fashioned way, where flavors are hand-mixed (or, more accurately, spoon-stirred) with the soda water. And Michael has a sure touch when it comes to the proper ratio of soda water and syrup to ice cream. I can tell, because there's a moment when the ice cream begins to dissolve into the soda water but is still cold enough that the soda water makes a thin layer of ice over the ice cream, so that the ice cream in your mouth is creamy and ice-crystal-crisp all at once, and very chocolatey. Yum.

The Café des Artistes is a casual, intimate, slightly uncomfortable (depending on your reaction to the proprietor) place with better food than a lot of similar places in town and excellent fountain products. The café is decorated with work by local artists, plus it has this bizarre (because it is awful yet at the same time fascinating) mural of famous artists hanging out together. You can try and figure out which artists are depicted while you eat your lunch. Another non-food feature of the café is that they sometimes feature live music, and one of the local writers' groups sometimes holds public readings and book signings there. But the real reason to go there is the chocolate ice cream soda made with chocolate ice cream. So, if you visit Fallbrook, don't miss the Café.

P.S. The Café des Artistes is right next door to The Bottom Shelf, the best bargain used bookstore in the county.

------

Once again, please feel free to send me any exciting recipes you've tried or reviews of independent food places you enjoyed!
Thanks!

Mocktinis and Mockmopolitans

2010-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

I realize it's a little late if you want to make these for New Year's Eve, but maybe you can have them for Valentine's Day or something.

For our New Year's celebration we made mocktinis and mockmopolitans, or virgin martinis and cosmopolitans.

Anyway, it's super easy. Adrien was the bartender, so this recipe is from her:

"You just put some ice in a blender, blend it a little bit, and then do 1:1 drink mix and flavored soda water and then blend that with the ice again for like 5 seconds"

This is what we used: (plus limes)

The finished product:

Delicious:

The margarita salt was a really good idea, it provided a yummy contrast to the sweetness of the drink. And when you squeezed a little of the lime into it, it was even yummier.

Here's to the new year!

Truffles

2009-12-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas I made truffles for the friends I'd left back in Long Beach. I took particular care to make them and send them off in time for Christmas (this was just after I'd moved up here to Utah). My friends thoroughly enjoyed them, but alas there was only one leftover, so I split it with my mom, because she loves chocolate. That half of a truffle was so delicious, it kept me going until this Christmas season when I decided that I needed to make a lot more truffles this year so that I can have more than half of one. So this year I made three batches, and am considering another.

The center is a soft ganache, with a thin layer of (hopefully) crisp chocolate, and dusted with cocoa powder. The recipe I took from SmittenKitchen.com, who got it from Epicurious.com. They are called "La Maison du Chocolat" truffles, since Robert Linxe of said Maison originally came up with the recipe, so far as I can tell.

I made only a couple of very minor adjustments.

Love and Chocolate.

The Recipe:

La Maison du Chocolat Truffles

via Smitten Kitchen and Epicurious

11 ounces Valrhona chocolate (56% cacao) Valrhona will probably cost you your firstborn child, and you might have a difficult time finding it anyway, so just use the best available to you. I used Ghiradelli 60% and they still tasted amazing.

2/3 cup heavy cream

Valrhona cocoa powder for dusting Again with the Valrhona. I used Hershey's because I already had it.

Finely chop 8 ounces of the chocolate and put in a bowl.

Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small heavy saucepan. Make sure your pan is small, so you’ll lose the least amount of cream to evaporation, and heavy, which will keep the cream from scorching. Linxe boils his cream three times — he believes that makes the ganache last longer. If you do this, compensate for the extra evaporation by starting with a little more cream. The cream should cool a little between boilings, but make sure you constantly run something (like a whisk) through it so it doesn't form a skin.

Pour the cream over the chocolate, mashing any big pieces with a wooden spoon. Or a whisk.

Then stir with a whisk in concentric circles (don’t beat or you’ll incorporate air), starting in the center and working your way to the edge, until the ganache is smooth.

Let stand at room temperature until thick enough to hold a shape, about 1 hour, then, using a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch opening or tip, pipe into mounds (about 3/4 inch high and 1 inch wide) on parchment-lined baking sheets. When piping, finish off each mound with a flick of the wrist to soften and angle the point tip. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 3 more ounces of the same Valrhona and smear some on a gloved (latex) hand. Gently rub each chilled truffle to coat lightly with chocolate. (The secret to a delicate coating of chocolate is to roll each truffle in a smear of melted chocolate in your hand. Linxe always uses gloves.) Last year I used a glove and this year I just used a sandwich bag. The effect is the same, but I admit it's much easier with a glove.

Toss the truffles in unsweetened Valrhona cocoa powder so they look like their namesakes, freshly dug from the earth. A fork is the best tool for tossing truffles in cacao. Shake truffles in a sieve to eliminate excess cacao. Or skip the sieve and use the fork. Although I'm pretty sure a sieve would work a LOT better at getting excess off. I just don't have one.

Store truffles in the refrigerator. If they don't get eaten fast enough...

Food Chain

2009-12-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I've been neglectful. Amazingly I did no cooking from scratch over the Thanksgiving break, so I have no recipes for you, but I did come across this strange (funny? annoying? weird? you decide) video about people's take on food and diet. It's called "Food Chain" by Jeremy Saville.
The dialogue is sort of loud. You have been warned.

How do you feel about what is good for you to eat? Do you worry more about your health? About the Earth?

P.S. No matter how small I try to make videos from Youtube, they always end up the same size-- big enough to cover part of the sidebar. It's very annoying. Sorry.

Vanillekipferl

2009-11-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the premiere of a certain silly movie and my sisters and friend Lindsay are going to the midnight premiere. I'm only jealous because they'll have fun without me. As a treat I made them some vanillekipferl to munch on throughout the evening. This recipe I procured from Gwyneth Paltrow's weekly newsletter "GOOP." Her neighbor in London is an Austrian woman who loves to cook and is a holocaust survivor. The woman, whose name is Evi, gives a brief history of the cookies:

"On the 12th of September in 1683, after years of occupation, the Turkish Army was defeated by the Austrians and retreated from Vienna and Austria. To celebrate this event the Austrians created the ‘Vanillekipferl,’ shaped in the form of the Turkish flag."
She goes on to say that although there are many kipferl recipes out there, this one is the real one. Here it is:

YIELD: About 10 dozen very small cookies (mine only made about 3 dozen, so obviously hers are a LOT smaller than mine were. I made them bigger because I had no idea what it was really supposed to look like and also was short on time and cookie sheets)
· 1/3 cup superfine sugar (when looking for this, I first went to Williams-Sonoma, and found some Creme Brulee superfine sugar, but didn't buy it because there was no one at the counter. It was $5 for a little package. I then went to Target and found a carton of the stuff priced the same as regular sugar and got it there. Thank goodness Williams-Sonoma was understaffed today! If you don't want to buy it, you can put some sugar in the blender until it's really fine, but not too fine)
· 1/3 cup ground almonds (they only sell them slivered that I could find, so break out that blender again and grind some up. We don't have a blender so I chopped them finely with a knife and it took forever but had good results)
· 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I always seem to have trouble getting things at room temperature. I got the butter out early but it was still really cold and hard, so I microwaved it, then it was too runny, so I put it in the freezer, which made it all weird, so don't do that. Just get it out like an hour or two early.)
· 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour*
· pinch of salt (I didn't use this since I made the self-rising flour and it was salty already)
· 1/4 cup icing sugar (DON'T PUT IT IN THE DOUGH, IT'S FOR LATER!!!)
*If you can’t find self-rising flour, simply measure out one cup unbleached, all-purpose flour and remove two teaspoons. Add a half teaspoon salt and one-and-a-half teaspoons baking powder. (This means for the whole 2 1/2 cups of flour, you'll put in 2 1/4 tsp salt and 3 3/4 tsps baking powder)

Mix the superfine sugar, almonds, butter, flour and salt together in a bowl with a wooden spoon or your hands. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. (I covered it in plastic wrap so it wouldn't dry out)

Roll the dough into half-inch thick ropes and cut into quarter-inch thick slices. (I made the mistake of putting the powdered sugar in the dough, so mine was drier than it should've been and therefore un-rollable. I just pulled off crumbly chunks and shaped them that way)

Shape each slice into a small crescent and place on ungreased cookie sheets. You can space them quite close together as they don’t expand that much. (They really don't, mine were like a centimeter apart)

Let the cookies rest for half an hour. (I only let them rest about 15 minutes and they were fine, but I was on a tight schedule)

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes (until they’re barely browned), rotating the trays after six minutes. (For some reason my oven wasn't actually as hot as it claimed to be, so the first batch had to cook about 20 minutes. The second batch I cooked for 16 minutes but it was a bit too long because it darkened the bottoms a little too much)

Move the cookies to a wire rack and let cool for ten minutes before sifting over the icing sugar. Allow the cookies to cool completely before eating. (I found that the sugar stuck better if added when the cookies were still hot, so you can do that. Also, they're kind of better warm, but that's just my opinion.)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-11-18T21:07:00.001-08:00

My little brother Ian is my favorite brother. Okay, so he's actually my only brother, but he's the best. Such a gentleman. Anyway, he makes the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I asked him if he would do a guest post on this blog and he (somewhat to my surprise) said "Sure," so without further ado, here is what he said (though it's a bit brief, I'm glad he did it at all...thanks Ian!) :

There's a lot of history behind this recipe. When we were kids, we had them all the time (apparently; I don't really remember) and then, for some reason, I started making them again in high school. I got really good at them after tons of practice. I even memorized the recipe. Usually, I try to get other people to try them and ask their opinion of how it could be improved. Mostly, they tell me to add more cinnamon and that might be a good thing to add to the recipe. Also, in my senior year of high school, I had to make a how-to video for my TV Tech class. My friend and I got together and made a little cooking show in which we made these cookies. Everyone in the class wanted to try them after watching the video. That's about all the history behind the famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. By the way, the dough is just as delicious as the end product.

So here's what you need.
2 and a half sticks of butter (1 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup of white granulated sucre
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vanilla
3/4 cup of white bleached whatever flour
3/4 cup of wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
about 2 cups of oats
1 regular size bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix sugars and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Add egg and vanilla.
And in flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Throw in oats and chocolate chips.
Form dough into 1-2 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 9 minutes.
*For high altitude, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes and add a little extra flour.

Days 5, 6, and 7 + Closing Thoughts

2009-11-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

Day 5
Breakfast:
-oatmeal
-banana
-OJ
Lunch:
-egg, cheese, and leftover potato omelette
Dinner:
-turkey chili
-Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornbread (from mix)
-applesauce

Day 6
Breakfast:
-oatmeal
-banana
-OJ
Lunch:
-Dinty Moore stew
-apple
Dinner:
-DeBoles' rice penne with chicken, pesto, and grated parmesan cheese
-applesauce

Day 7
Breakfast:
-oatmeal
-banana
-OJ
Lunch:
-chicken and black bean nachos from Cafe Rio
Dinner:
-egg, cheese, veggie sausage omelette
-apple sauce
-hot chocolate

Thoughts on Day Five:
-I finally found a repetitive thing to have for breakfast that doesn't involve bagels! For me, breakfast pretty much needs to be the same thing every day or it's weird to me. Just 'cause I'm weird.
-I'm really glad there were leftover potatoes, since they're really good in an omelette.
-The chili was pretty good (had to check it for wheat products since I'd already purchased it before the challenge, but it was clean) and I was taking a little gamble with the cornbread mix, and it was actually pretty good and really close to "real" cornbread-- yellow, grainy, and not cooked enough in the middle. That was the only bad thing about it. It didn't cook properly for some reason and browned and crisped very well on the top and sides, but the inside was a gooey mess inside the shell of the crust. I ate the top, but since the price was pretty high, I expected it to be a little better quality. However, I recognize that gluten-free baking is difficult, so if you're used to baking this way, you'll probably have better luck.

Thoughts on Day Six:
-Again with the breakfast.
-I bought the stew in a portable, microwaveable container and I'm really glad I did because I was able to take it with me to a babysitting gig in Lehi. Accompanied with the apple it was a great lunch-sized meal.
-This meal had the potential to be very tasty. However, the pasta I used was rice pasta, which I guess I'm just not used to, because I cooked it for over the recommended time limit (even though it said not to) but the noodles were still sort of crunchy in the center, and it was a little gross. I would've cooked them even longer perhaps, but I was running late for an evening engagement (institute), so I didn't have the time. However, the taste was pretty good and close to that of wheat pasta. The pesto, chicken, and cheese were also a yummy addition.

Thoughts on Day Seven:
-My bananas are super ripe. Two of them fell off the bunch when I picked it up. But the third (and last) is still good, so yum.
-Lunch was nachos...the chicken was so-so, but I was glad for the wheat-free option at Cafe Rio. Although those huge fresh flour tortillas were so incredibly tempting...
-Out of ideas really for wheat-free dinner meals, so I went with an omelette. And I know that the veggie sausage has some wheat derivative in the vegetable stuff it's made from, but I needed the protein because we're going on a dive trip tomorrow and I'll really need the calories, especially since the water will be cold.

Closing Thoughts
Overall, I'm really glad I decided to take this challenge. It wasn't actually all that difficult until it came to going out to eat, since options are slimmer, especially at specialized establishments. Also, when it started getting towards the end of the week, I started running out of ideas.

While shopping for groceries, I noticed that Target had about 4 options for gluten-free baking mixes, and all of them were for sweets. Can't they carry a more diverse selection for all their shoppers, including those with particular food needs that don't force them to resort to sugary desserts instead of breads and things? The same can be said for the pasta aisle-- DeBoles was the only gluten-free pasta they carried. I had a little more luck at the Sunflower Market. They even had gluten-free options labeled with special tags on the shelf! They also had a slim selection of gluten-free baking options, but did have "healthier" things like pancake mixes, pizza crust dough, and of course my cornbread mix. They even had some all-purpose baking flour that was gluten free! I believe it was also Bob's Red Mill.

Over all, I think that stores need to be more conscious about their shoppers' needs when they choose what products to carry. Before, it was where to find a vegetarian-friendly product, then vegan-friendly, and now I am more conscious of the need for a wider variety of gluten-free products for all our celiac, wheat-allergic, etc friends out there who want to eat normally just like the rest of the world. It is important for stores and restaurants (and everyday people too!) to realize that there are people out there who have special dietary needs, whether it be avoiding gluten, lactose, meat/animal products, sugars, or anything else. However, I have also learned that while living a food-conscious lifestyle can sometimes be difficult, especially in social situations, it doesn't have to be stressful.

As for my personal health during this challenge, I don't feel like it really changed much, but I do feel better knowing that I've eaten more fruit this week than I've probably eaten in the past two months, especially if you don't count applesauce. I sure love the stuff though.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I'll go back to eating bagels for breakfast and having macaroni and cheese for dinner-- although I would like to try spotlighting some "alternate" foods or baking methods on this blog occasionally from here on out.

If you are thinking of trying the challenge for yourself, or just want a few more tips on finding something gluten-free to eat, Kelly just gave me a few more tips on things she does:
"Remember to be reading all labels, things you might not expect to have [wheat] do, like more common brands of soy sauce, gravys, some candy, some granola bars, some brands of chili, SOME ice creams even have wheat products in it. But luckily for me, I tend to have only have a reaction to common wheat not other types of wheat I have tried like durum wheat, that type of wheat is what a lot of your pastas are made from, but still read the label on those too, the kraft mac and cheese, top ramen and a lot of other pastas and noodles are made with the common wheat. But remember you can have all the corn, rice, and potato you want. I use corn tortillas instead of flour and rice crackers instead of other types. You can find pre-made wheat free breads, but I haven't found any that I really like yet and they are usually pretty expensive compared to regular breads so I rarely buy them."

Days 3 and 4 + A Recipe

2009-11-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Day 3
Breakfast:
-maple & brown sugar oatmeal
Snack:
-corn chips
Lunch (from Ultimate Broiler):
-spiced roast potatoes
-falafel
Dinner (from Cafe Rio):
-black bean, rice, grilled chicken burrito

Day 4
Breakfast:
-maple and brown sugar oatmeal
-banana
Lunch:
-apple
-kimchi dumplings
Dinner:
-herbed rice
-baby red potatoes roast in olive oil and italian seasoning

Thoughts on Day Three:
-This morning I felt sort of queasy so I couldn't finish the oatmeal, even though there wasn't that much to begin with. While I was babysitting I started getting very hungry so I scrounged through the kid's parents' cupboards for something free of wheat and found the corn chips! Yay.
-I usually go to lunch with Adrien on Mondays and since it was my turn to choose where we ate, I picked the Ultimate Broiler Greek Restaurant or whatever it's called. I wanted to get just their tasty potatoes and falafel, but it was about $5 more than the lunch special, which put the falafel into a pita in the form of a sandwich, so I got that instead. However, I didn't want to waste the pita, so I ate about half of it. Shame on me again for not keeping my standards.
-I did it again at dinner. Since I was at Adrien and Eric's and they were getting dinner to-go from Cafe Rio, I had to get something from there. I wanted to get nachos but it didn't work out, so I got the burrito instead. And yes, it was a flour tortilla. So I messed up again twice (again) in one day and feel guilty, but things happen I guess. I'll just have to do better from now on (again...)

Thoughts on Day Four:
-I forgot I'd bought the bananas for breakfast, so today was a pleasant variety!
-My roommates and I spent the whole day cleaning, and when I finally got the chance to eat and had that apple, my roommate made kimchi dumplings and offered me some. I didn't even think since I was so starving, but I think now they might've been made with rice something instead of wheat, but I could be wrong. I can't check the ingredients on the package because it isn't in English.
-Ah dinner. I love these potatoes. And of course the rice. I'm still a little hungry though, so I might go have some apple sauce for "dessert."

Also, a recipe for you! (These potatoes really are great)

Roasted and Spiced Red Potatoes
adapted from a recipe from my sister Ellen
-Cut some red potatoes into chunks (not too small or they will shrivel and become more like crispy fries) and note that they don't have to be baby reds, but that way you get more skin on each chunk.
-Put them into a small baking pan and cover in olive oil.
-Sprinkle with spices of your choice. I usually use garlic salt, black pepper, rosemary, basil, thyme, and oregano. Ellen used salt, red and black peppers, paprika, and garlic powder. Both ways of preparing the potatoes are delicious.
-Pop into the oven preheated to 400 degrees. Cook for about 40 mins.
-Eat with fish, chicken, rice, or any combination of those. They're also really good as leftovers the next morning if you cut them into smaller, bite-size pieces and have them in an omelette. Yum.

Days 1 and 2

2009-11-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm marking off the end of day two in this wheat-free week.
A recap of what I've eaten so far:
Day 1
Breakfast:
-omelette with parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and black pepper
-glass of orange juice
-apple sauce with cinnamon
Lunch:
-apple with peanut butter
Dinner:
-costa rican-style beans and rice
-milk
-hot cocoa

Day 2
Breakfast:
-oatmeal with maple and brown sugar
-orange juice
Lunch:
-leftover beans and rice
-milk
-apple
Dinner:
-egg, cheese, potato, veggie sausage frittata
-milk
-oatmeal cookies

Thoughts on day one:
-Breakfast was pretty good, although I hadn't gone shopping yet so I had to use Parmesan, which, although tasty, was not what I'd preferred in a breakfast omelette.
-After buying groceries for the week (and making sure I had enough wheat-free food for the week) I realized I'd gone over my weekly grocery budget by about $10 or 15 and it's barely the beginning of the week. Crossing my fingers that I don't find the need to go to the store again this week.
-I ate lunch a little late (around 2) and all I had was the apple. I'm pretty hungry. Can't wait for dinner.
-Thank goodness for beans and rice. I might just make it. In fact, I'm stuffed.

Thoughts on day two:
-Oatmeal gets nasty in large quantities. Tomorrow I'll make less so I don't have to gag it down. Also, I'm running out of orange juice. Lame.
-Thank goodness again for beans and rice. And that it still tastes good the next day.
-Ian wants me to make him dinner. We're going with a frittata and I know it will be delicious. I'll skip the toast and jam I normally have with it.
-Ian has made his famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I've already ingested two when I remember that (duh) these have flour in them. I feel guilty and stupid but eat two more anyway. On my way out the door I look at the ingredients of the veggie sausage and see that they were made with a vegetable something-or-other that has wheat gluten in it. I messed up twice today. Time to get back on track.

P.S. Ian promises to guest blog about those cookies of his! Something to look forward to after the challenge. Or maybe before, since I won't be making them, eh?

Walking In Someone Else's Shoes

2009-11-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Kelly N posted something on her facebook:
"Let’s walk in someone else’s shoes for a week. I can't eat common wheat, (durum wheat that is in a lot of but not all pastas doesn't bother me so I eat that) so I want to challenge someone to walk in my shoes for one week and try someone else’s challenge for a week. It just would have to be something I could do and not cost money, at least not much. Remember you would have to check every label of everything you put in your mouth, you would be surprised how many products have wheat and that includes if you go out to eat with friends. No fresh yummy rolls for you, unless they are wheat and gluten free, but good luck finding gluten free bread at a common restaurant."
I then told her I'd be interested in taking her up on the challenge and she said this:
"I just don't eat things like bread, when I really get craving something that I can't eat I try to find some kind of gluten free substitute, there are some decent muffin mixes out there that I like, but a lot of what I do is just avoiding those foods. Like instead of having a sandwich making a salad out of what I would put in one, or only eating the insides of it. Or something I eat to replace a craving for peanut butter and jelly is peanut butter and fruit, like an apple."

I think it’s a great way to be more aware about people and also the different lifestyles, etc that people live. For this challenge, I'm going to avoid all wheat and things with wheat in them, including durum wheat and semolina. I have decided to keep a sort of journal as I do it:

BEFORE I BEGIN:
This is going to require a lot of planning on my part, since I most of the time when I eat I don’t plan ahead, I just grab what I’m craving that also happens to be in my cupboard. Kelly recommended just not eating bread, but that’s really hard for me. So I’m going to combine that with some gluten-free stuff. Obviously I’ll try for more fruit. Thankfully I subscribe to several food blogs and got some gluten-free stuff from there. The challenge here will be to stick to the diet while not going over my normal budget for groceries in a week. There are some bloggers out there who are gluten-free, like Gluten-Free Girl (http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/), so there was somewhere for me to look for more ideas, thank goodness (my usual food muse at smitten kitchen had plenty of gluten-free recipes, but they were almost all desserts, and the rest were soups, which I prefer to buy pre-made, thank you very much). Besides money concerns, another problem I hope I don’t run in to is that I get hungry very quickly (more quickly than most, anyway) and if I don’t eat then my stomach starts to eat itself, which can be quite painful as you might imagine, so I need to have good snacks on hand and also make sure I eat enough at each meal. I usually do this by having lots of bread, pasta, etc. Not this week though! Should be fun and definitely challenging.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for me since I haven’t the money to spend anyway) baking gluten-free (or without wheat flour in general) is difficult since it requires a mixture of several different types of “replacement” flours, xanthum gum which (though I admit I haven’t looked for it) I know nothing about and therefore naively conclude is not sold in normal grocery stores, and all sorts of flavored extracts, so I won’t be able to showcase any gluten (or wheat)-free recipes that I’ve actually tried, but I will try to showcase a recipe or something that is. (Hanging participle? Don’t know. If it is, sorry.)

For the challenge, I waited until a time after visiting moms and Halloween parties and the first church activity that actually sounded fun that we’ve had in a long while. In real life, of course, having to alter your diet does not wait for a convenient time. I feel sort of guilty because I did this, but we really needed the cheesecake-swirled brownies for that Relief Society sleep over, and I of course needed to sample the things I made for my mom, and of course there were cookies and candies at those Halloween parties that needed to be eaten…

GOALS:
1. Go gluten/wheat free for one week. That’s seven days.
2. Record/ keep track of everything I eat so I know I’m not bending or breaking any rules.
3. Update this log every day so you can be sure I’m keeping my promises.
4. Think of something Kelly can do for a return challenge that is something I do in my daily life. Suggestions, anyone?

Websites:
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/
http://goop.com/newsletter/15/ (for a “detox” version…see, there are benefits for everyone in a gluten-free diet!)

Gluten-free restaurants:
For those who read this with a little (okay, a lot) bigger budget than mine, or that just want to eat out once in a while, there are several registries with restaurants that are either gluten-free, provide gluten-free menus, or inform the public about the gluten status in their food (which may or may not be helpful—if something has tons of gluten and they tell you, that counts, but obviously isn’t very helpful to hungry you). I’m only doing Utah since that’s currently where I hold residence and because through some of my research I find that most people don’t spotlight any GF restaurants in Utah, which is sad.

http://celiachandbook.com/utah.html (for a “hard copy” guidebook of GF restaurants in Utah)
http://www.gfutah.org/restaurants.htm
http://www.glutenfreeregistry.com/gluten-free-state-search.do?state=UT
http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/54/1/Salt-Lake-City/Gluten-free-friendly-restaurants

Cheesecake Marble Brownies

2009-11-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

Last night there was a Relief Society activity at our President's parents' condo in Midway. I used the occasion as an excuse to make something delicious. I decided on the cheesecake-swirled brownies from Smitten Kitchen, that she adapted from Gourmet. I didn't really change the recipe much except that I used a little more chocolate than she says to use because a)I love chocolate, b)you can never have too much of it, and c)the bar was 4 oz and I figured hey-what's-another-ounce.
Anyway, they were a big hit at the party (so big, in fact, they were used as ammunition in a pseudo-food fight) and were very moist and rich and just so incredibly yummy. And for some reason everyone was really impressed that I'd made them from scratch.

Cheescake Marble Brownies
from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 16 2-inch square, thick brownies (or a lot more if people keep cutting them into tinier pieces because they just know it's going to go straight to their thighs)

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 (no, 4!) ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened (I left mine out for a while, but I didn't realize it still wasn't soft enough until after I'd added the egg, so rather than risk cooking the egg by microwaving it, I just turned the heat back on on the pot of water I was using for the double boiler and warmed it up more gently that way)
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Plus
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (both Smitten and myself put the chips on top, but I only did it because I forgot I wanted to put them in the cream cheese batter. She did it because she thought it would mess up the swirling. You may do as you please.)

Make brownie batter:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan — though I did mine double-boiler style, placing the mixing bowl I was using over simmering water, thereby creating one less dirty dish and melting the chocolate more gently (What I did was just mix my batter in the saucepan and not even worry about a bowl) — over moderately low heat, whisking (or forking if you have no whisk) occasionally, just until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Make cheesecake batter:
Whisk (although I found a spoon actually worked better to get all the lumps out) together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a butter knife. (Here I had some problems, possibly because my cream cheese hadn't been all that soft. The cheesecake batter wanted to swirl in clumps. I ended up pulling some of the brownie batter over the cheesecake batter in order to get rid of some of the humongous white blobs, and this allowed the cheesecake to infiltrate below the top layer, which is totally fine, but perhaps does not look as pretty.)

Sprinkle chocolate chips over cheesecake/brownie batter swirl. (If you didn't already put them in the batter.)

Bake brownies:
Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Warning: it took almost 2 hours to completely cool at room temperature, so if you're on a tight schedule, I'd suggest putting them in the fridge or freezer-- but be aware that something incredibly hot in the freezer will definitely start to defrost some things, so maybe wait until it's partly cooled first.)

P.S. I'm really sorry I didn't take any pictures; I'd completely forgotten until I was walking to my car. Smitten has some on her website if you're the type who needs to see what the end product looks like.

Culinary School

2009-11-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that I've been throwing around the idea of going to culinary school since high school and that the main reason I moved up here a year ago was to do just that, but things didn't really work out. Anyway, I've been wondering lately if I should go through with it and decided to tour the culinary school in Sandy that I intended to attend (ha!). It was an informational and sort of fun tour and got me pumped (but also nervous) about going.

At the end of the tour, we were standing in the foyer recapping and getting handouts on scholarship information when the chef giving the tour pointed over our shoulders and said "Oh look, there's Chef Brad practicing for a competition coming up! Let's see if he'll let us in so we can watch." So we went to the door and unlocked it (the tourees were a little concerned that he didn't want to be disturbed, but our guide was insistent) and walked in. Chef Bob was apparently making his famous vinaigrette and so our guide talked to us briefly about how the competitions worked. One prepares four plates-- three for the judges to taste and one for a picture. Then Chef Billy pulled out some forks and gave them to us, saying, "Here, try it." We quickly indulged as he went back to his sauce-making and our guide told us about the food. There was a salad made with butter lettuce and curly endive (yes, that took a bit of research since not even the chefs could remember what it was called) with poached pears on the side and Chef Benny's famous vinaigrette over it all. Delicious. There was also a little seafood thing that I didn't try that consisted of a small bit of salmon topped with lobster and a mushroom cap on the side with diced celery root cascading from it, all with a seafood sauce. My favorite dish, however, was the roast chicken stuffed with a goat cheese and sun-dried tomato...stuffing...with some blackened potato slices and an artichoke heart stuffed with a spinach and bacon thing. Oh boy. I'll have to make that stuffed chicken some time. Anyway, I wanted to eat the whole plate, but I managed to maintain my composure when our tour guide said it was time to leave Chef Bruce to his practicing and get back to our wrapping-up.

I learned from this tour that:
-culinary school is very difficult and time-consuming
-it costs a lot of money but there are lots of scholarships available, especially to women
-this particular program is an unspecialized one, meaning you have to do all the areas (management, pastry, chef, etc), which is fine I suppose, except that you can't go directly into being a pastry chef after graduation if that's what you want to do (I haven't decided yet, but I was sort of leaning toward that)
-chef hats are unflattering on everyone, but there's nothing you can do about that
The program calls for 67 classroom hours and at least 2,000 paid internship hours in a kitchen where at least 51% of the food is made from scratch (and apparently there's no concern over being able to find a job like this since restaurants and such love to employ culinary students). Also, there are mandatory competitions every semester since it is an ACF school/program (in fact the only American Culinary Federation-accredited program in the entire state). There are also optional, more specialized competitions periodically. Even the chefs participate in the competitions, like Chef Ben.

Anyway, it seems like a pretty good program, I just think it'll have to wait until next fall (instead of this coming January) since it is so time intensive, and I have SCUBA courses and trips to England and things like that planned in the next few months.

http://www.slcc.edu/culinaryarts/

Ratatouille

2009-11-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday when my mom was in town, I offered to make dinner for her and my grandparents. I decided to make the Ratatouille from the movie of the same name. I used the recipe and the serving suggestion from Smitten Kitchen, although when she mentioned the recipe (known here as Confit Byaldi) created for the movie by the French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley, I checked it out and decided to use a few tips from there as well in order to make it more "authentic." In the end, it was very rewarding (and delicious), but I have some suggestions/comments/tips for all of you "real" people who might not have the fancy equipment, etc that Smitten has, nor the time and patience for the French Laundry version.
Ratatouille from Ratatouille
adapted from Smitten Kitchen, with tips from French Laundry and my own revisions

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (I used canned organic tomato "sauce," so I'm sure anything similar to puree will do)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (Smitten said her store carries “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones and thus perfect; I got my produce at the Sunflower Market and they only had the regular kind, so my eggplant slices were much larger than the rest of the vegetables, but it still tasted fine)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper (and/or a couple roma tomatoes...or regular tomatoes, but roma are generally thinner)
Few sprigs fresh thyme (sure wish they sold these in less than 500 sprigs)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval (or as close as you can get) baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick. Note: Since I don't have a mandoline, I used the sharpest knife I could find, which was the last of 4 that I tried and was what I'm pretty sure is normally used as a bread knife. If you don't have a mandoline, try to find the sharpest knife you can and test it by first cutting the squashes, since they'll hold their shape even under a blunt knife. My slices were definitely not as thin as they should have been, but as long as your slices are as thin as you can get them, no worries. Also, cut the eggplant last! I cut it first because of the novelty of using eggplant for the first time, but it started to brown a little from exposure, sort of like an apple, which didn't effect the taste so far as I can tell, but it was a bit worrisome.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit. Note: I used a red bell pepper and one tomato because there were not enough slices of pepper to finish the whole pan. The tomato I used as the red slice when I ran out of pepper and nobody seemed to mind.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish. Note: Again, it seems easier said than done. The thyme took a long time to distribute because the tiny, fragile branches kept snapping under my eager pluck. Be patient and don't short yourself, because the thyme really does make the meal tastier.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. Note: If you don't have parchment paper, don't worry. French Laundry used tin foil anyway, so go ahead and put a piece of foil gently pressed over the pan and it will be fine.

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Smitten Kitchen says: Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain. I served it atop lots of couscous only. It would have been good with some cheese though, or even with french bread on the side.
Smitten also says this recipe serves 4 as a side and 2 as a main dish. However, with plenty of couscous (I made two Near East boxes), it served four of us just fine as a main dish, with room left for pie.

Chaco Tacos

2009-10-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today I was sifting through some pictures from about a month ago and found ones I'd taken of when my friend Autumn and I made Chaco Tacos from scratch. You remember those...sort of like a Drumstick in taco form. Anyway, I found what seems to be the only from-scratch recipe on the internet, and we made them on a Sunday morning after breakfast.
They were pretty complicated to make and took a few hours to make, but the outcome was successful. I didn't like them very much because I'm super picky about ice cream, but they were definitely tasty, and Autumn enjoyed hers so much she had two.
Choco Tacos adapted from Serious Eats

For crepe taco shells:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 to 3 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

For chocolate syrup:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (original recipe called for a full cup, so if yours isn't runny enough, feel free to add a half cup more)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt

Chocolate chip ice cream (vanilla, fudge swirl, or whatever favorite you have will also work)
1 cup pecans (original recipe said peanuts...ew) or shredded coconut (or both)

Optional: Magic Shell fudge sauce

Procedure

1. For crepe shells: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Gradually add in the milk, vanilla, and melted butter, stirring to combine. Add the flour and salt. Beat until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled, small griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan for each taco shell, tilting to make sure the liquid coats the surface evenly.

3. Cook the crepe on each side for about 2 minutes, until light brown.

4. Pick a book (actually you will need several-- as many as you have shells). Cover with a bit of parchment paper so your book doesn't get dirty or soggy. Shape the crepe around the bookbinding so it forms a taco shell mold. Freeze this contraption for no less than ten minutes-- more for maximum stiffness (I think we did about 25 minutes).

5. Continue cooking crepe shells, shaping them around books, and freezing.

6. For the chocolate syrup: Combine cocoa, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add water. Mix until smooth. Bring to boil for one minute, then remove pan from heat. Once cooled, add vanilla.

7. After the first frozen shell is pretty sturdy, pull it out and drizzle inside with the sufficiently cooled chocolate syrup. A brush would be best, but a rubber spatula also works fine. Put coated shells back into the freezer so chocolate can firm up (here is a where a cookie sheet will come in handy). Get out your ice cream so it can soften up enough to be malleable for the next step in a few minutes.

8. Wait at least five minutes before pulling them out (I think we waited about 15 minutes). Delicately stuff them with ice cream (you will get very messy), then return them to the freezer for another ten (or 25) minutes of firming-up (on the cookie sheet).

9. Remove from freezer and cover with your choice of topping (coconut, pecans, more chocolate syrup, gummy bears, whatever) and if you decided to splurge on the Magic Shell, drizzle a bit of that over your toppings to help cement them in place and give your treat a more manufactured taste.

10. Eat immediately, because these things melt a little faster than you'd think.

Tip: If you bought your ice cream in the normal-sized cardboard carton, when it's soft enough (and if you intend to use ALL the ice cream for the recipe), cut off the cardboard or squish it out so you have a cylindrical block of ice cream. Proceed to cut it into slices just the right width of the shell and then cut in half so you have handy half-moon slices of ice cream to put in the shells without having to do all the messy stuffing. Note: we did not try this, but some people out there recommended it. If it doesn't work, don't blame me!

Pumpkin Soup

2009-10-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

My good friend Adrien (who also happens to be my sister) posted a recipe for a great pumpkin soup on her blog. I'm rather picky when it comes to taste (ironic since I branch out in making new things, but am nervous about trying them sometimes), but this soup was excellent! Eat it with warm scones (the English kind, not the weird frybread kind). So tasty, and perfect for fall.
The link.
The recipe in brief:
Sautee 2 Tbsp. butter and 1 white onion (chopped) in a large saucepan and then add 1 can chicken broth. Simmer and stir for 15 minutes. After simmering, puree in blender and then return to saucepan. Add 1 (15 oz.) can pureed pumpkin, 1/2 additional can chicken broth, 8 shakes of salt, 8 shakes of black pepper, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. ginger, cloves and nutmeg to taste, a TINY shake of cayenne powder (if available), and 1/4 cup (add more to taste) of brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup heavy cream, stir. Serve immediately.

This is Why You're Fat

2009-10-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

It seems like just about anything can get a book deal nowadays (except for legitimately good literature). The new rave seems to be book versions of picture blogs, like LolCats or Cake Wrecks, which is all well and good, but today I discovered "This is Why You're Fat": a blog (and now a book) with pictures of the most disgusting, fatty, thrown-together "foods" people have found or (worse) made-- think doughnut burgers, Velveeta "fudge," and deep-fried chocolate-covered bacon cake.
Yeah.
Makes me sad to be American in a way. And you know people are going to be making even more disgusting stuff just to get on the site or in the book.
Please people, let's have a little more class, at least when it comes to what you eat.

Considering what I just said, trying new things is not a bad idea. For instance, there's a "weird" concoction I happen to really like that (I've been told) is a family invention. It involves a piece of toast with peanut butter and jelly with a fried egg and a couple slices of bacon on top. The point is to not overdo it. For instance, when I went to Idaho recently, my friends (the guys, obviously) came up with something pretty gross and thought it was the best thing since the invention of video game consoles. And it was gross, because they overdid it, and anticipated the stomach-ache to come. Why would you do that to yourself?
Their "breakfast for dinner" consisted of:
2 everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bagels, toasted
cream cheese
tobasco sauce
a few slices of bacon per bagel
a fried egg with runny yoke per bagel
a thick slice of cheddar cheese per bagel
I don't know why I just gave you the recipe. Please don't make it yourself.

Cheesecake

2009-10-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

I can't stand cheese cake, but this cheesecake was so good even I couldn't resist it. Here is the recipe, which I got from the food blog This Little Piggy:

Cheesecake Even I Like
Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling
4 x 8 oz packages Philly cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs

a 9-inch springform pan
parchment paper (optional, but recommended)

Preheat oven to 325°F

Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper if you're using it. If not, no worries.

Mix together graham cracker crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar and melted butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan.

Make sure the cream cheese is soft (like room temperature, so get it out when you read this and not when you decide later...because microwaving is cheating). Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla until well blended.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until smooth and blended.

Pour over crust. Very gently tap it on the counter to get rid of possible air bubbles.

Bake about 50-55 minutes or until the center is vaguely gelatinous. Don't remove the cake right away, but turn off the oven and open the door so the dessert isn't surprised by a sudden change in temperature and decides to crack.

When you take it out, run a knife around the edges of the pan so when the cake pulls away from the pan as it cools, it (again) doesn't crack.

Let the cake cool completely before you remove the siding of the pan. In fact, it's probably better if you just pop it in the fridge as-is. Refrigerate no less than 3 hours. Overnight is best, if you can wait that long (oh, but it will be worth it, don't you fret).

Eat! Yum!

Tools of the Trade

2009-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

I by no means claim to be an expert in what tools are the best for cooking and stuff, but there are a few I have that I love-- like a spring-form pan and a good set of bread pans-- and a few I know I would love.
For instance:
A Kitchenaid stand mixer
A stainless steel frying pan with a copper bottom (for more even heat distribution), like this one here
A pizelle iron (pizelles are pretty Italian waffle cookies) sort of like this one
A French rolling pin like this one
The only thing is something about the mixer-- will I get lazy from the easiness of mixing things?

Zucchini Bread and Quiche Lorraine

2009-10-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

Another re-post. I didn't actually say much in the original post except to give the recipes, so I'll just do that here:

Zucchini Bread
I make this all the time and can eat a whole loaf on my own probably all at once, even though I shouldn't.

3 eggs well beaten (fluffy)
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup veg. oil
2 cup sugar
3 cup flour
3 t cinnamon
2 t vanilla
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder

1. Grease loaf pans
2. Add zucchini, eggs, oil & vanilla to mixing bowl.
3. Add sugar and mix well.
4. Add remaining ing. (flour, salt, etc) and mix well.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour

Quiche Lorraine
I've made this several times as well and think it's a very good recipe for quiche. I even though it was better than the quiche I had at Eliane's, but that's just me.

Dough
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt
10 T butter, cut into chunx
1 egg

1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Add butter and mix to coat w/ fingers or pastry blender, rubbing or cutting butter into flour until you have fine particles (I find fingers are better).
2. Add egg and stir with fork (or fingers) until dough holds together (it will be very crumbly, so don't expect too much)
3. Shape dough into ball and roll out onto (very!) WELL floured board. Roll to fit a 10-inch pie pan, and put it in there. Make dough flush with top rim, folding excess dough against pan sides (inside, not out obviously) and press firmly in place.

Quiche
10 slices cooked, chopped bacon (I use fakin and it's a little chewy, but pork meat generally makes me ill, so that's just my preference)
1 1/4 cups diced Swiss or Gruyere cheese (Swiss is softer and therefore easier to cut)
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups whipping or light cream
1/2 cup milk

1. Scatter bacon in pastry shell; sprinkle with cheese.
2. Beat eggs to blend with cream and milk. Pour into pastry. Grate some nutmeg on the top.
3. Place on lowest rack in 350* heat oven (*=degrees) until lightly browned on top (55 minutes). Let stand 10 minutes. Serve cold or hot.

Salmon Patties Like Mom Used to Make

2009-10-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is a re-post from the old blog:

What do you do when you have a can of salmon?
And just spent a long time drooling over this recipe for potatoes au gratin?
You call Mom up to ask her for the recipe to those salmon patties she made all those years ago and microwave up some Hungry Jack Au Gratin Potatoes because you're starving and have no time to lose!!!
Worth the 20 minute wait (for the potatoes-- the fish takes but a moment).
Make them.

a small (my can was 7.5 oz) can of salmon (boneless, skinless)
1/3 cp crumbs* (cracker or bread)
1 egg
1 T onion flakes
1 T parsley
1 T lemon juice (funny-- all I had was lemon extract, so I used a little of that mixed with water and it made it sort of lemony sweet, but did not detract from the overall experience even though it's totally not the same as lemon juice.)
salt and pepper to taste (I forgot to put this in and it still tasted great)

mix all ingredients in a bowl and shape into patties of desired size (I made about 4 of the size you see)

in shallow frying pan heat a bit of oil and fry patties until evenly browned on both sides

drain on paper towel

eat with lemon juice or tartar sauce (or plain like I did!)

*some people like it crunchier. If you do, put crumbs on the outside of the patty too so it’s like its breaded

Etc

2009-10-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently I also have food-related posts with recipes I tried that produced varied results, but I did not directly give you the recipe. Here they are, if you're interested:

Black & White Cookies - successful
Cheddar Broccoli Soup - disaster
Choquettes - unsuccessful
Crisp Rosemary Flatbread - successful

Also, there were a few things that I linked to without trying, only because I thought they looked good:

Cupcakes (various)
Poached Egg

Reviews

2009-10-16T21:52:00.001-07:00

After much deliberation about what to do with the food-related posts I made on my old blog, I've decided that instead of taking the incredible amount of time it would require to transfer them all to this blog, I will only re-do the recipes, and the food reviews will be in a list right here:

J Dawgs (Provo, UT)
Mad Greek (Baker, CA)
Eliane's Boulangerie and Patisserie (Orem, UT)
Elizabeth's English Bakery and Tea Shop (Salt Lake City, UT)
Pedro's Tacos (Fallbrook, CA)
Rocky Mountain Drive-Inn (Provo, UT)
Sammy's (Provo, UT)
Yogurt Palace (Fallbrook, CA)

Also, if you would ever be interested in doing a guest post on a review of a place you've eaten (chains don't count, the idea is to spread the word about perhaps less well-known establishments), please let me know!

Enjoying

2009-10-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

There are two main reasons I love to cook:
1. I love the effect food has on the senses. You know, how your mouth starts to water when you smell baking zucchini bread or see the steam rising from a bubbling pot of soup...
2. I love the look on people's faces (and yes, the compliments) when they truly enjoy eating something I made for them.
If I don't also love something I've made, I feel unaccomplished. But if someone says something is wrong with something I made them, that inspires me to try again and again until I get it right.
Such is the case with my special blend hot cocoa (sometimes affectionately dubbed "Auntie Shann's Cocoa," though this name came around before I was actually anyone's Aunt). I love to combine flavors and spices and different types of chocolate, and I usually love my combinations, but historically for others it's been hit-or-miss. And it's usually a miss. So I keep on trying. I think maybe the thing is that there are too many flavors and people just aren't looking for that in a cup of hot cocoa. So here's a super-simplified version you can make yourself (and let me know if you like it):
To a mug of hot milk add 3 tablespoons Ovaltine malted chocolate, 1/2 tablespoon (or more if you like it bitter) unsweetened cocoa powder, and nutmeg to taste (I add sort of a lot because I love the taste of nutmeg in my cocoa). If you added too much cocoa, add a pinch of sugar.

Yet Another Food Blog Out There...

2009-10-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another of the random (and probably superfluous) food blogs you'll find on the internet. This one is named after this children's book and hopefully will be fun, just like the story. Stick around!
For the first thing, check this fun site out if you haven't already.