Something old, something new

When I was little, I can remember going to my cousin's house on Christmas morning, after we opened our own gifts at home and before the rest of our family came over. It was either my aunt or my cousin, and sometimes both, who made the most delicious and special breakfast treat. It only came out on Christmas morning. Served with butter, jelly, a side of fruit (and probably a side of bacon and/or sausage that I'd rather not discuss. . .) this fabulously fantastic treat was in fact a popover. We sadly haven't seen our cousins on Christmas day in several years however I have since carried on the Christmas morning popover tradition for whoever is around. I've gone through maybe three or so popover pans since I started making them (back in high school?) usually because I scratch them up for whatever reason. My mother-in-law reminded me this past Christmas of one a few years back when I was apparently in between popover pan purchases. . . and we made popovers with a muffin tin. I don't recommend trying this at home, but I DO recommend getting yourself a popover pan, buttering it well, measuring your ingredients well, and not over-mixing your batter. Whether it's for Christmas or just a special kind of Sunday at home, they are certainly delicious:


I really hate to post this, especially right after Jenni's last post, but do keep this in mind. . .

After Jenni's first roulade, I thought, Hey, if Jenni's not afraid, then maybe I could give it a try too. I had that new Ina Garten book (and signed!) which had a great-looking recipe. It was a Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream. I figured Christmas would be a great time to try this, and so I did. It was truly a scary experience, which thankfully turned out well, but seriously. . . you roll the cake up as soon as it comes out of the oven, let it cool, unroll it, fill it, and re-roll it. You're taking a lot of chances there, right?! So I'm sure if I try it again, I won't have as much luck. . . right, Jenni?! (For the record, Jenni, I think that in the end, YOU won, not the cake -- it sounded delicious, and didn't completely fall apart. You were still able to eat it, so there you go). So now, again, I really hate to post this, but I still kind of. . . sort of. . . want to share :/


Happy Holidays!!!

Let the good times roulade

I admit that maybe I've become obsessive, but the pumpkin roulade was seemingly so easy that I just had to try again.  This time I was inspired by this recipe.  A red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse and raspberries inside.  Mmmmm mmmmm!  It sounded delicious and perfect for our Christmas dessert.  The results fell short of my grand expectations.  I submit to you people's exhibit A:

The problem was after the cake was cooked and rolled and cooled it completely cracked when being unrolled. I was left with about 5 long strips of cake. I proceeded to fill them and "roll" them back up the way they should be rolled. I wrapped it quickly and tightly in saran wrap and aluminum foil and put it in the fridge overnight where I hoped it would heal itself. It did not. I think that some pieces sunk further into the filling, and thus it looks all rolled back up on itself - although I can't really seem to figure out how it should have gone together.

It looked a little better when sliced, I submit people's exhibit B:

And, it tasted delicious!!

I think that perhaps the cake part was cooked too long, I'd attempt a shorter time the next time. It also seemed a little dense, I'd maybe go to 3/4 cup of flour or substitute cake flour instead.

It's my turn

I had two tasks on my "to-do" list tonight: clean the kitchen and bake cookies.  I began by scrubbing the fridge, some of you may groan, but I totally loved pulling out the drawers and shelves and washing them down in the tub and practically climbing in to the fridge itself with some clorox wipes.  I'm about to head out of town for a bit (yay New England!) so my fridge is more empty than usual.  Once that was done, I set out to make some cookies.

I tried a new recipe, one that's making its way around the interwebs (and country) faster than a desperate housewife on Sunday!  It was originally displayed here by my friend NH's sister CNHB on the east coast, subsequently it was made here by my friend VC on the left coast.  And now, I've joined the masses and made them down here on the third coast!

I must start with, this was the messiest recipe I've made in a while - flour, cocoa powder, creamed butter and sugar sprayed everywhere.  Ok, I won't blame the recipe.  I likely could have found a bigger bowl to mix it in.  But the dough was really thick, in fact I'm fairly certain I've burned out my hand mixer motor, it sure smells funny right now.  But holy, GOODNESS!  With due respect to the original cookie-master, I won't publish her secret recipe here, but I'll be sure to bring it home with me so I can make them again...and again...and again.

I plan to bring these, and one other type of cookie, to my department area's Expensive Scotch party tomorrow night.  I'm one of two girls in the area currently, and this is the first time we're being invited to scotch night - and I just know that what co-ed Expensive Scotch night needs is a plate of Christmas cookies!  Thanks CNHB, NH, and VC for relaying this recipe so quickly.

Disco Ball Cake

I'm SO glad that I'm done making this cake! It was a little stressful, but in the end, I think it came out alright. The disco ball looks a little more like Epcot Center than an actual disco ball, but what are you gonna do? That's thanks in part to my limited cake supply resources. . . had I been able to find silver fondant (rather than the white that I used) it probably would've looked a little more like the real thing.

So fondant -- that was a new experience! It was really easy to work with actually. It's stiffer than cookie dough, but doesn't break apart as easily when you roll it out. It's just sort of hard to roll out until you work with it a bit to get it a little more pliable. It got just a little dry toward the completion of the disco ball so I brushed some clear vanilla extract onto it to get it to soften a little and to also help the silver sprinkles stick better. The recipient really wanted a chocolate cake, so I made the bottom, large cake chocolate and the disco ball yellow chiffon. I filled both of them with chocolate mousse and frosted the outside with a simple buttercream (the recipe on the package of Domino's confectioner's sugar, not my favorite because I think it's really sweet, but it's easy to make and was a request). The pink, orange, and green stripes are also buttercream that I just died (instead of decorator's frosting). I figured that it would've been a lot of decorator's frosting, when the taste of it is artificial-like to me (but good as far as your typical decorator's frosting goes). More importantly though, the buttercream spreads more easily so that was the hands-down winner. Now it's late, my feet hurt, and I want to go to bed, so that's all you get. Oh, and a bird's eye view which I think is kind of neat:

Christmas Baking Madness

I've been pretty busy over the past week or so, and most of my business has involved BAKING, so I figured I'd write about it! Of course we're all busy around this time, trying to find time for holiday cards, gift shopping, seeing your friends and family, etc. On top of this, throw in baking five different kinds of holiday treats, fighting with your dishwasher, breaking your only large microwave-safe mixing bowl, recital time kicking in, and you've got my week. Oh, did I mention the disco ball cake? That's another post. . .

Let me fill you in on the baking because that's probably the most exciting of the above list. Several years ago, Scott and I journeyed to the White Mountains' annual Inn to Inn Christmas Cookie Tour (yes, I said COOKIE TOUR!) We checked in to whichever Inn we were staying at for the weekend, and they gave us a map of all of the other Inns. We went around to each, via car, and it was really fantastic. They were all decked out for the holidays (haha, pun intended). There were Christmas trees, wreaths, Nutcrackers, and of course they also had two or three different signature COOKIES to sample! So my point is, a few of the cookies I've made for the holidays since this memorable trip have been from the little cook book that they give you at the Cookie Tour for FREE. It's nothing fancy on the outside, but it's really all about the little treasures inside. This year I'm making the Peppermint Crunch Cookies (thanks to the Tamworth Inn), Inn at Crystal Lake's Crystal Lake Everythings, and Lavender Flower Inn's Pecan Balls. My own personal additions will include sugar cookies, Jenni's two-bite brownies with my mom's brownie recipe, and my own simple creation of white chocolate bark with sliced almonds and dried cranberries. I'll take a picture once I have a Christmas tin of these assembled for your viewing pleasure! Happy two weeks before Christmas!

hold the cheese, please

It's no big secret, I love cheese. I put it on everything, most meals I cook include some form of cheese, and often times I'll just eat cheese slices as a snack. Totally delicious? yes. Healthy? no. My definition of a meal has morphed into "must include cheese" and I've made a conscious decision to try and change that back to something more normal.

The other night, an impromptu get-together to decorate my christmas tree resulted in our making dinner as well.  I had some veggies we needed to use and ry-guy had some chicken to bring, so we decided on a simple rainbow stir-fry.  It ended up being quite good.  I had some broccoli, a yellow squash, red pepper, and red onion (which really look purple).  We cut all of these up and put them in a big bowl with some marinade. Meanwhile, we attempted to thaw the frozen solid chicken breasts - first in a pan of water until mostly soft, and then some in the microwave. By the time the chicken was thawed enough to be cut up we were starving, so I tossed it in the bowl with the veggie marinade, and then threw the chicken only (yes, I had to pick through the bowl to find it all) into the frying pan. When it was mostly cooked I threw in the veggies, and started the rice (of the Jasmine variety). It was a deliciously colorful meal, without any cheese in sight.

This afternoon I was looking for something to eat, and I decided to make a pasta primevera. The same veggies (minus the yellow squash) plus some oregano, thyme, cracked black pepper, and a can of tomato sauce gave me another colorful cheeseless meal - just as tasty!!

a holiday roulade

presenting the pumpkin ice cream gingerbread roulade!
Originally uploaded by with an eye

 

I remembered years ago that my mom and I made a gingerbread and pumpkin ice cream dessert, and I set out to attempt a repeat performance. I found many recipes online, and I read the section about rolled cakes in the Martha Stewart handbook. I decided to combine a few various things, thus making my own completely stolen/original recipe. And, may I add, it was delicious.

The ice cream was classically semi-homemade:
1 quart of vanilla ice cream, softened 15 minutes at room temperature.
1 1/4 c pumpkin puree
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Just put all of this in a medium sized bowl, and mix together with a hand (or stand) mixer and mix it up. When it's all uniform just put it back in the ice cream container. I covered it with plastic wrap before putting the lid back on. Freeze it for at least 4 hours.

I made the gingerbread from scratch, and I was nervous about all the recipes I'd read - but this worked brilliantly. You'll need:

5 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

In a large bowl beat the egg yolks until pale (about 2 minutes), and then add the molasses, brown sugar, fresh ginger, and beat until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, allspice, black pepper and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture until combined.

Now, in a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks appear. Add 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and beat until firm and glossy. Fold the egg whites into the batter until all the streaks are gone.

Spread the batter onto a 12 x 17 baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and sprayed with Baker's Joy. The batter won't rise too much as you bake it, so load it up without spilling over the sides of the pan. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes. It will be lightly browned and a little springy to the touch. Mine was a little bit sticky and I might have been able to leave it in a few more minutes, but it ended up ok.

When it's done, cool it in the pan for 10 minutes or so. Now here comes the big roulade trick. Sprinkle the top with confectioners sugar and run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan. Lay a clean linen cloth on top of the cake and place a larger baking pan on top of the towel and quickly invert the entire pile, hopefully dumping the gingerbread onto the towel and larger baking pan. Remove the bottom pan (the one that was in the oven) and the parchment paper. Starting at the short end, roll the cake and towel together and place seam-side down on the baking sheet and cool completely in the fridge (about 2 hours). Once I saw the outcome of this cake I had little concern that it would tear or crack when I rolled it - it's very springy and spongy.

Remove the ice cream from the fridge and let it soften at room temperature for 15 minutes. I found it easier to put it into a bowl instead of softening in the carton. You want to get the ice cream to be firm but spreadable, and not super duper melty. When the ice cream is the right consistency remove the roll from the fridge and carefully unroll it. Spread the ice cream over the cake, going completely to the edges. Roll it back up, without the towel this time. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze in freezer for 6 hours or overnight.

You can trim the edges after it's been re-frozen, if you want to make them look pretty for presentation. Enjoy!

I've still got about 6 slices left, who wants left-overs?!

Thanksgiving a la Mel

Overall, Thanksgiving was quite successful here at my place. Everyone was really helpful with their contributions, from side dishes to desserts to even cleaning up. Here's what was on the menu (if you'd like any of these recipes, let me know and I can write them out):

We started out with just a couple of appetizers. There was fruit as well as Jenni's famous brie bites that I made with homemade cranberry sauce instead of jelly. The fruit:


Mmmmmm. Thank you, Whole Foods! We had a few beverage options, but when people arrived, they mostly went for the hot beverage: mulled cider. I kept this warm in the crock pot, which was great because it eliminated the need of an additional large pot (my only one was already in use). I get the mulling spices from Williams Sonoma. It's quite delicious! I also made a Sangria with a mulled simple syrup, Spanish rose wine, red port, and triple sec. That was a new recipe, from Food and Wine magazine, and it turned out really great! Definitely a keeper. In addition, there was red wine and the left-over port from the sangria available.

For the meal, we did NOT have turkey because my brother-in-law is allergic (which is great for me because I wasn't about to cook a bird in MY oven!) so my parents brought ham instead. We also had delicious mashed potatoes that my brother-in-law made here with tons of garlic, cranberry sauce (that I forgot to put out with the meal. . . oops), onion tart c/o Michelle that was incredible, stuffing c/o Diane that was also incredible, roasted root vegetables with pine nut pesto that I made (another new recipe from F&W and it was super yummy if I do say so myself!), corn bread, roasted asparagus, and I believe that was it. For dessert, we had apple pie (that my mother-in-law made and has become quite famous in the family), cranberry pie (thanks to Leah!), and I made vanilla bean ice cream for the first time that was really rich but from what I heard pretty good, and pumpkin cheesecake that did NOT crack! Yeah! I was so proud that I took a picture:


Well that pretty much sums up the day! I wish I had taken more pictures, but what can you do. I was a little busy I guess! I'm glad that my new recipes weren't a disaster. I know you're not suppose to test out new recipes for a holiday (so say many chefs on TV. . . ) so while it was risky I have to say, "HAHA, Suckers!" I was suppose to have an additional dessert that was also a new recipe, but I'd like to forget that it ever happened. For those of you thinking about making Linzer Cookies, I have to advise against it. . . even if the pictures on the package are really cute and hard to resist, don't give in. And that is all. I hope your Thanksgivings were as wonderful as mine! Next up, Christmas! You better believe I'm already excited and looking forward to my Christmas baking (and I'm sure you are too, Jenni!) Happy Holidays!

not for T-day

I figure the next couple of posts will revolve around T'giving, I know I've got some Roulade and Stuffing miracles to come.  I figured that I'd get things going again with a non-Thanksgiving post.

I made oatmeal craisin pancakes tonight.  And unfortunately, they were just alright.  They were missing something, I'm not sure what.  I think it might have had to do with the mixing of the "wet" ingredients.  I was supposed to melt butter, and add buttermilk (I used the milk + vinegar substitution), vanilla, and an egg.  Maybe I didn't let the "buttermilk" stand long enough, or maybe the milk was too cold and the butter was too warm, but when I mixed it all together it was...odd.  Not uniform.  I was in a rush, it was about 830pm, and had been about 12 hours since I'd last eaten and I was getting desperate.  I dumped it into the dry ingredients, and whisked it up.  Seemed to mix up fine.  But something was just a little off when I ate them.  Disappointing.

The day I met Ina Garten

As most of you know (haha, all three of you who read this!) I love Ina Garten! Sure, she's pompous and probably thinks quite fondly of herself (and her good quality vanilla extract), but damn is she good at what she does. She's just so smart when it comes to everything in the kitchen. When you watch her show (The Barefoot Contessa) you know that SHE really knows what she's talking about. She does cook a lot of meat (especially chicken) but her vegetarian recipes are all totally delicious. Her pastries are also incredible.

Today she had a signing for her new cookbook, Back to Basics, at the Natick Collection from 12-2. I really had no idea what time to get there, but I knew that getting there before 12 would be ideal. I didn't have to be at work until 2:45, so the timing was going to work out pretty well for me. Before jetting out of the house, I checked the Natick Collection web site to see if it had any important information for me (like if the time changed or if I had the wrong DAY. . . ) and I found out that I had to buy the book there, she was only signing the new book, and there would be no photographs permitted. SERIOUSLY?! For starters, I bought the book the day it came out (for $22, thanks to the Borders Rewards program) and a picture would've been nice. I didn't want to get in trouble though, or even worse NOT be able to meet her, so I figured I should follow the rules.

I got to the mall around 11:45. I speed walked my way to the new, fancy section of the mall, where Williams Sonoma was. When I got there, there were TONS of people. I mean, TONS. They were all in that open area you pass through on your way to the spiffy shops. I managed to find my way to the actual WS to buy the book. . . again. This time I had to pay the full price of $35. They associate who rang me up stuck the receipt inside the book and told me to hold onto it for verification. They were serious. At this point, Ina was in the store, starting to sign some books, so I felt it was worth it to get a little sneak peak!

I found my way to the END of the line, flipped open my newer new book, and started reading. At this point it was maybe 11:55. I asked a WS associate if Ina was going to stay to sign everyone's books, and he said as long as you get in line before 1pm (I think?) that you would be okay. So whatever the cutoff time was, I was okay. At about 1:30 I'm starving, and I start panicking about what might happen if I don't actually get to work on time. A plan B had to be in order. I started texting my boss to see if she could cover for me. I also texted Scott and Jenni, just to give them updates of my fabulous Ina day. I then texted one more person I work with to see if she could cover for me, knowing that she's usually free on Mondays. I go to press "send" and my phone died! Oh no, it wasn't the battery. It was all charged up. My phone went all computer on me and actually FROZE. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even shut it off. I tried to open the battery cover in the back but was not having any luck. So now I really start to panic. I can't get in touch with anyone, I might be making myself late for work, I don't have anyone's phone numbers because they're programmed in my phone, and I have NO IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS.

Luckily I made some friends in line who were able to tell me the time. So I wait. . . and wait. . . in a line that IS moving, but still very long. And then a woman not too far in front of me passes out. Yeah. People were yelling for someone to call mall security. . . and 911. . . and yeah. Madness! She was able to sit up after a little while, and then people came to help her, and I guess she was okay. I keep checking my phone to see if it has decided to unfreeze itself yet. No such luck. I keep waiting.

I get toward the front, and there's a WS associate every twenty feet or so. It's like the finish line to a marathon. You can do it! Only a little while longer! One of them told me that if anyone tried to cut in front of me to let her know. That was a little weird, but I guess there have been such incidents.

I'm finally in front of the actual store, and I asked my new friend what time it was. It was 1:40. I was going to be alright, I think. We get inside the store, and now my heart is in my throat. I am so pathetic. I was thinking of things to say while waiting in line, but they all seemed so dumb. I was a little more concerned about my phone, not being able to get in touch with anyone, and being late for work though to be honest. Okay, maybe not MORE concerned, but it was up there. I was really close now. I hand my book to Important Person A. There's now just one person in front of me. Important Person A however is telling me how there are always SO many people at the Boston signings and how great it is. I'm not listening. Ina Garten is RIGHT in front of me. She then hands my book to Important Person B, who's sitting right next to Ina. I'm all smiles at this point. I'm likely red in the face as well. Now Ina has my book in her hand. I said, "Hi Ina! It's SO great to meet you." And she said, "It's nice to meet you too. Thank you for coming." And I said, "Thank you!" And I think she said Thank You as well. It was short and sweet. I felt like a moron.

As soon as I got out of the line, a couple of WS associates told me that there was a mini buffet of Thanksgiving dinner samplings in the back of the store if I wanted to help myself. BUT I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS, AND I CAN'T CALL ANYONE! On my way out, I heard someone say it was 2:00. NO!!! I speed walked my way again through the mall, though a little faster this time. I was relieved when I got into the car that it was only 1:53. Phew! I sped off to work, and got there with ten minutes to spare. My boss was already there, ready to cover my first class. I didn't know she was available of course because how was she going to get in touch with me?! So all was well in the end. In regards to my brief Ina encounter, I wish I had handled everything a little differently, but what can you do. I'm sure someone like Ina Garten doesn't really remember any of the people she meets at her signings. I'm sure she could care less that I'm vegetarian and still love her. But I went, and I'm happy. I don't have a picture to prove it, but perhaps my memory is good enough.

Anyone want a copy of Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics?!

Happy Halloween?

Some of us celebrated Halloween a week LATE because a certain sister (Diane) was sick. The cake was already made of course, hanging out in the freezer, so I just decorated it this past weekend for when we went over to Diane's house to celebrate. It was a wonderful evening. We ate chips, delicious guacamole, and CAKE! We also watched one of my favorite movies: CLUE! So here's the very traditional-looking jack-o-lantern cake that I made:


I should've taken a picture of the middle too after we cut into it, but of course didn't think about bringing my camera. It was a marble cake, and I died the white cake part of it orange. I also added chocolate chips because it didn't look chocolatey enough. It was good! Now I have to wait another year before using that cake pan again. Oh well.

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II -- Boston!

1:46pm - I'm waiting for my rice to come to a boil. My oil is heating up in the wok. Must run!

1:50pm - I'm cooking up the green curry paste and it smells amazing! I added the coconut milk (the rest of the can that I didn't use IN the paste) and then realized if it ends up too spicy I'm out of luck. . . no more coconut milk to cool it down! Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Oh, and I used two chilli peppers of the optional one to three.

1:54pm - I have ten minutes now, phew! The rice is cooking away. The tofu is cooking with the curry paste, coconut milk, and a medium pinch of shredded kaffir lime leaves. . . ?

2:01pm - I'm starving.

2:15 - I must rescue my frozen broccoli from the microwave and check on the already cooking yam, red bell pepper, carrots, and cauliflower!

2:19pm - Added the snow peas.

2:22pm - Pouring a glass of wine that's left over from Jenni's Chocolate and Red Wine Cupcake recipe that I whipped up this morning for a friend's party tonight. Adding the broccoli.

2:27pm - I tried the sauce and luckily it's not too spicy! I did add a little more soy sauce though because it was lacking saltiness -- just a bit.

2:59pm - I'm ready to eat when you are, Jenni!

3:18pm - Eating! Oh my. This is really quite delicious! I think it's still lacking in the saltiness department, but it's okay because it's so flavorful. I'm going to take my plate into the TV room and devour this yumminess while watching yesterday's Barefoot Contessa. More on her tomorrow. . . she's doing a book signing in Natick that I'm going to! :o

The Tofu Chronicles, Part II - Texas.

All times reported herein are in Central Standard Time!

12:02pm - I've begun draining the tofu, it's weird.  I've got it on some paper towels and sandwiched between two cutting boards with some cook books on top.  There is so much water coming out.  Is this what's supposed to happen?!  I might be ruining this before I even really begin.

12:08pm - mmm, lemongrass!  This is also my first experience with this, and wow - it smells amazing.  Almost as good as lemon pledge.  Who knew.  I'm sans food processor, so I've begun putting all my paste in

gredients into a bowl, and will cycle it through the hand-held chopper I

 do have.  

12:18pm - thanks to the gloves I "borrowed" from the whole foods spice section, I will not be having jalepeno hands!  In go the chillies (or chilli!)

12:20pm - "one small onion", mine was large.  I wanted to use only half, but even that seemed like too much.  I didn't use the whole half.  We'll see.

12:36pm  - so many firsts.  I've never used ginger either.  But lemongrass and ginger may be my two new favorite ingredients.  This smells good, and all I've done is chop so far.

12:37pm - my one loose cup of coriander leaves and stems is in, and it's what I call cilantro.

  The last thing to go in the paste...my interpretation of "kaffir lime leaves", which will include some zest and some juice from a kaffir lime.

12:53pm - the gre

en curry paste is made.  I managed to cycle it all through the hand chopper, and then get it all back in at one time for a final spin!  smells good.  I must pause now to run and get some rice (oops!) and make a few other arrangements for the study session happening promptly at 3pm.

1:18pm - we're back.  Rice is on.  Frying pan is heating up.  I am also sans wok, so I'll be using a large frying pan.  I guess this is the Green Curry Tofu without all appropriate kitchen appliances version!!

1:32pm - I'm impressed really, it's an hour and a half (holy god) after I started and I am just not suffering my first cooking induced injury.  I mean, I've used so many knives, gloves, juggled bottles - this is a miracle.  When adding my "kaffir lime leaves" (aka, more zest and juice) to the frying pan I dropped the lime and grated my knuckle.  awesome!  

1:39pm - I heeded Mel's advice, and I stirred completely the paste and coconut milk before adding the tofu (so as 

not to have to stir it too much).  also, I cut my tofu a bit larger than bit sized, in case it began to fall apart it would still be big enough.  We'll see.  ten minutes on.

1:50pm - I've officially added too much stuff already.  I put in my red bell pepper (or one and a half, they were small) and I used eggplant instead of yams.  The frying pan is getting full.  I still have broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, and baby corn to add.  Maybe I'll remove some of the larger eggplants chunks.  Ten more minutes!

2:01pm - broccoli (is for lovers), cauliflower, snow peas and baby corn added to the mix!  4 or so more minutes...

2:06pm - ten minutes until taste test!

2:18pm - Mmmmm!  This is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

Today is the day: Green Curry Tofu Interstate Simu-live Blog-off

A recipe has been selected, ingredients acquired, preparations have been made. At 1pm (eastern)/12pm (central) we will both begin making our own Green Curry Tofu dishes.  This is my very first time cooking with Tofu, and I'm very excited!

yes we cake

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the
destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

*Broccoli is for lovers urges everyone to exercise their democratic right to vote today! Click here to find your polling place!

Carrot cake is for lovers

I've discovered a new love: carrot cake! It wasn't a love at first, let me tell you. . .

I made this cake for my friend's husband's birthday. She gave me their "family" recipe that he loves because it's plain and simple. It was very easy to make, however getting it out of the pans was quite the task! So note to self: use parchment paper. I think carrot cake is usually sticky by nature, so Baker's Joy cannot be used by itself. The combination of Baker's Joy and parchment paper is key. I will remember this for next time.

The decoration was a combined idea (Jenni and myself) and I'm proud to say that I discovered that I'm not an idiot and can in fact created a simple shell border (see, on the bottom?) I was using the wrong tip in the past. . . haha. Good job. I'm excited to make another carrot cake so I can separate those carrots on top a little more. I got that idea from some web site. . . not sure where it was now that I think about it. But I just used a medium round tip for the carrot and the leaf tip for the tops. It was really easy! I like easy designs that look hard, don't you? So there you go.

I got to taste some of the cake (that stuck to the pan) and it was good, but I made another carrot cake with a different recipe a few days later that had ALL of the fixings. I put it in the freezer and will frost and decorate it later this week for Michelle. Perhaps I'll post a picture of that one too. But this recipe is DELICIOUS! I didn't use the buttermilk glaze, but I imagine it's fantastic. I also used a different recipe for cream cheese frosting (left over from the cake above). So for this new recipe, I just added raisins to it, a little less than a cup, but I would probably add a whole cup next time. And believe me, there will be a next time, and a time after that, and a time after that, and oh my gosh I love it so much.

Cupcake Fever

It was a friend's quarter-century birthday last week, and she's been begging for carrot cake since I last tried to make it for Easter.  You'll recall that at Easter I wanted to make cupcakes, but I had no cupcake pans (HOW?!) and so I made a bundt cake. After that tragedy I quickly bought some cupcake pans, and this time around I made the cupcakes I wanted.  Thanks to the best birthday present ever, Williams-Sonoma mechanical pastry bag, I used the super-large open star tip and swirled the cream cheese frosting on top for a fancy finish!

There is a story in here, although it's not about the baking.  It's about the cupcake pans.  In March when I discovered I had none I was amazed.  I couldn't believe I didn't have cupcake pans - but I decided maybe they had been my old roommates and were left with her in Boston.  On Monday when I went to bake these cupcakes I opened the under-stove drawer where my pans are, and there were no cupcake pans.  I've been doing some major house reorganization lately, so I checked in the cabinet with other pots and pans and baking sheets.  Not there.  Now, I was sure I had two cupcake pans, but I couldn't find them.  I opened the under-stove drawer one more time, and as I did this I accidentally pushed one cake pan over the back edge and into the scary dark abyss.  As I reached my hand back to get the lost cake pan, I heard it clink against something.  So I did some more digging.  And what did I find there??  FOUR cupcake pans.  The two I bought in March nestled snuggly on top of the two I couldn't find in March.  Apparently, the under-stove drawer is constantly stealing my cupcake pans.  But the good news is, now I can make FORTY-EIGHT cupcakes at once!!

Where did all the spinach go?

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Boston Organics, and it's the best thing ever. I'm not going to get into the details right now, but you can read all about it on their web site. The part I like the most is the whole surprise factor -- you get whatever is in season and available, including produce that you wouldn't normally pick out yourself in a store. Last week, among many beautiful other fruits and vegetables, I got a whole bunch of gorgeous spinach. That's right, GORGEOUS SPINACH. Now you may be saying to yourself, But Melanie, spinach isn't all that unusual, so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the only spinach I buy is baby spinach (for salads or this) or frozen chopped spinach (for lasagna, this, or just to cook up because it's cheap). Since my box came on Thursday, I have all of this food and decided that I should prioritize. I figured the spinach might not last as long as the cauliflower, carrots, and other items, so I used that first. I sauteed lots of garlic in olive oil first, then less than a minute later, started rough chopping the spinach and adding it to the pan, along with salt and pepper. While it was cooking, I drained and rinsed a can of chickpeas, and added it to the pan as well. I reheated some pilaf I had made a couple of days ago, and there you have it. . . a delicious lunch. I just wish there were more of it. There was SO MUCH spinach (before I cooked it. . . ) that it barely fit in my saute pan! So after I cooked it, it was a little disappointing (yet expected, but still. . . quite sad). But let me tell you, the little spinach that was there was SO tender and wonderful. Mmmmmmm!

Happy 50th Birthday!

Here's a 50th birthday cake I made for one of the directors at work. The cake, filling, and frosting were the same that I used for Rachel's graduation cake. It luckily all came together in time for the party, but of course there had to be a little drama -- nothing too bad, just a little typical madness on my part.

I first had four flowers on the top of the cake. There were the three red ones you see, but they were separated more and I put them in the cake at a bit of an angle. In the middle, I had a white flower of the same variety. Well it was really obvious to me that the flower display wasn't all centered. . . BIG problem, right? It was also just awkward and empty-looking. I had time to fix it, so I thought about my options. Option 1: going to get more (smaller) flowers to fill in the gaps. Option 2: not using flowers at all. Option 3: taking the flowers out and putting them back in. While it was risky, I chose option three. I had more frosting in the fridge so I could fix the top, and I had time, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I had the flowers in these little white cones inside the cake (so the flowers go into the cake more easily and can sit in a little water). They were a pain in the BUTT to take out. They were in there really good (nice, Mel) and were now slippery from the frosting (the cones AND my fingers that is). I somehow managed to do it, but certainly not neatly. The whole top of the cake cracked all the way across, cake itself came out through the holes the flowers were in, and it was just a big old mess. This made me a little nervous. . . I was able to fix all of it with more frosting, but that's not to say I didn't have a minor heart attack. I decided this time instead of putting the flowers in the cake at an angle that they would look better if the stem went straight down into the cake and the flowers sat more flat-ish on top. I thought that just three flowers would work and fit better than the four, so that's what I did. And then it was done. And it tasted yummy. And that was all. Happy Birthday.

incredible, edible

On New Years' Day I made a wonderful brunch with my friend AY, who taught me how to crack an egg with one hand.  Today, while watching Ace of Cakes, I learned some more interesting tidbits about eggs from Chef Duff.  Apparently, salmonella lives on the outside of the eggs, so shells are especially bad - for more than just the unneeded crunch factor.  Also, though, if you crack your eggs into a bowl (he used a metal one, this might be important) and let them sit for a bit, the shells will sink to the bottom and stick to the bowl.  He's so cool!

More orzo, please!

So speaking of orzo, I have to share a deliciously easy meal with you. It's my version of "risotto."

I cook up some orzo in vegetable broth. When it's almost done, I run some frozen peas (because you know I have lots of those hanging around!) under hot water to just thaw them a bit. Back to the orzo, I reserve about a ladle of the broth, and strain the rest. I put the orzo back in the pot I cooked it in, with the reserved broth, peas, and a little butter, and heat it up a bit. I then add salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and a little milk. Sometimes I'll even add some freshly grated nutmeg. I keep it on medium-low heat while stirring to see if I need more milk. And that's it! I know it's more of a side dish than a "meal," but sometimes that's just what you need.

Chicken-Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese

A schoolfriend of mine has recently gotten a subscription to Cooking Light, so on Thursday before our kickball game she invited me over for dinner.  She made this great tasting salad with tomatoes, arugula, peppers, red onion, basil, oregano, grilled chicken and orzo.  She did a great job, although it was both of our first time with Orzo, so we made it up a little.  It was a delicious dinner, and definitely something I can't wait to make again.

Unfortunately, we lost miserably.  Although I don't think it can be blamed on the salad.

Yogurt, kids.

Okay. So without naming names for the benefit of a certain search engine (except for Thermos, all right), here's the deal with the yogurt and making my own:

1) Once upon a time I was shopping for who-knows-what when I saw a yogurt maker I wasn't even looking for. It was a French one, which made me think back to the glorious yogurt AISLE (yes, a whole AISLE, pure heaven) at the grocery stores in France, so I knew this thing had to be good. I am not keen on machines and gadgets, and generally think they're a waste of money and space, but this purchase was no luxury. I eat yogurt ALL THE TIME, so I knew that making my own would save me money in the long run. So I bought it and then let it collect dust for a good 11 months. One day I thought, this is stupid that I keep buying it every single week while I have a perfectly good machine waiting for me at home. I busted it out and learned how to make it. It was easier than I had imagined, and I was a fool to wait so long. A fool.

2) To simplify: Heat up milk to a certain temperature. Cool down milk to a certain temperature. Add starter (some yogurt) to milk without killing the bacteria. Incubate for several hours (this is where the machine was used) at a certain temperature until it becomes yogurt (bacteria, yum!). Refrigerate yogurt for a few hours before eating. Try not to wolf it down all at once because it will be so much better than the crap that's sold in the store. And that's it. I did this almost every week for several months.

3) Then the machine started going sour on me (pun intended). It was a model that made the yogurt in eight individual servings. The four cups in the center of the heating element were always curdling before the four cups on the ends were even done. Something was wrong with the heating element and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Just to be doubly sure it was that and not user error, I made another batch. I ended up keeping the good half and throwing away the overheated half. Remember the nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet? Well, once the curds and whey separate during the yogurt-making process, there's no turning back and the affected batch is ruined.

3a) Out of this mistake, there was one time where I thought, hey, I'll strain it and make labneh.

3b) Creamy, smooth, mild, nice texture. Success. I'd do it again instead of wasting a ruined batch.

4) So I threw out the machine with much regret. I had gotten my money's worth out of it, but I was disappointed that it died on me so soon. Sure, I was using it just about every week, but it was for less than a year. See what I mean about machines? Not worth the hype. I vowed to not buy another one, but instead find a better method. Now that I was familiar with the process, I thought, now it's time to experiment and branch out. What did people do before these machines were made? I consulted my cookbooks for the answer. They used other incubation devices: the pilot light on a gas stove, a heating pad wrapped around the bowl, a double-boiler-type insulation method, even naked in a covered bowl on the kitchen counter. There are so many methods that don't require extra stuff (hell, even a heating pad isn't exactly a staple for a lot of people). The best one I heard was from dear old Pops speaking from personal experience: a Thermos. A Thermos!

5) Here's a hint: use one with a wide mouth. (You definitely don't want to use one that's meant for beverages.) I went through the same steps as before, only now using my new incubator. And the biggest surprise? The end result was even better than before, both in terms of taste and texture. So, I thought I had a loss, but instead I really won. This is the way I've been making it ever since. So easy. And there's less stuff I have to clean (8 cups, 8 lids).

6) One of my friends who bakes her own bread (and no, I don't mean she does it using a machine) encouraged me by saying once you get the basics down and you know how long the different steps take and you do this on a weekly basis, it's really not so bad. And she's right. It gets easier and easier the more you do it and refine your technique. Starting it is the more difficult thing, but you've just got to jump in at some point and learn from your mistakes.

Those are the basics. If you ever want real and more complete directions, you know how to reach me. (I have a phobia of writing anything of substance on the interwebs.)

B is for Burrito

Are you sitting down?  I cooked something tonight!  Granted it was just a simple burrito (or two....or three....) but damn if it wasn't good.  And as I cooked it I thought, you know who should hear about this??  M and M!

My burritos are pretty simple, but I swear there are two secrets that make them all the better.  First I cook some rice, usually brown boil-in-bag rice.  When that's done I put it in a pot with a can of black beans, mix it up and leave it on a low burner.  In a skillet I grill up some veggies, tonight I used a red and green pepper, yellow squash and eggplant.  Here is secret number 1, I cut the veggies rather large to grill them.  Tonight I used some avocado oil instead of evoo (because I had it) and then I sprinkle on some store bought Burrito seasoning.  Once the veggies are grilled, I scoop some out onto a cutting board and then I chop them up small.  I find that grilling them bigger keeps in some more flavors, and then chopping them small helps make them fit in the burrito.  

I take my tortilla and put on some sliced cheese, tonight it was colby jack.  Then a scoop of rice-bean mix, and some chopped veggies on top.  Here the key is to pile things up right along the center of the tortilla.  Now to roll it, followed by secret number 2.  First I fold in two ends, say the right and left sides, only a little.  Now I start to roll from bottom to top - be forceful, get all that filling inside, and keep watching the ends making sure they are tucked inside.  Secret number 2 is to immediately wrap it in aluminum foil and pop that sucker into a pre-heated 300 degree oven.  This allows the cheese to melt, everything to get warm and toasty, and the burrito is less likely to come unrolled when you go to eat it.  Totally simple, totally delish!  

Let's go Red Sox!

I don't cook much these days, either, but...

I've been making my own yogurt for quite a while now. Today I made granola for the first time (and too bad computers don't have smell-o-vision, because it is gooooooood). If you call me a hippie, though, I'll smash your face in.

things I've "cooked" in the past two weeks

boil-in-bag brown rice

frozen lima beans

frozen peas

frozen corn

peanut butter toast

turkey and cheese sandwich

marinaded chicken with frozen snap peas

cereal*

*It's a sad life when cereal makes the list of things I've cooked.

Ugly Betty

My mom gave me her very old Betty Crocker cook book maybe a year ago. You know the one, like a big orange binder? Well, I may have taken it from her house. . . with some later permission to do so, but anyway, it had been in my possession for a while now and I hadn't used it, until recently.

Of course I wanted the book because of the cake recipes. Old recipes are usually good ones, right? They're classic. They're the ones you want to keep around for a while and share with others (or maybe not, depending on who your crowd is!) I figured if anyone was going to teach me how to make a great cake it would be Betty Crocker. And in my seemingly endless search for a moist yellow cake recipe, that I was convinced needed oil instead of butter, Betty had my back.

I found a lot of recipes in this great book that called for shortening. I think that's just plain gross, so those recipes were out. I mean, for decorator's frosting or even pie crust that's one thing, but otherwise, that's nasty. I kept looking and found Betty's recipe for Two Egg Chiffon Cake. By definition, I've now learned that a chiffon cake uses oil instead of butter. That's what I was looking for! What was also part of the process was separating the eggs. I whipped the whites to a meringue to be folded in later, which makes the cake light and fluffy. So we have moist. . . light. . . fluffy. . . all good things. I was excited!

After some minor issues whipping up the egg whites (humidity. . . ) the cake came out of the oven and luckily looked perfectly fine. The recipe recommended using a Pineapple Butter Frosting to top it off, so I did. It was just butter, confectioner's sugar, and drained, crushed pineapple. It's pretty hard to drain crushed pineapple completely though, so the liquid left in there is why I didn't need any milk. Other than being sweet, the frosting was really good! With the cake though, the whole thing tasted GREAT! Of course with the pieces of crushed pineapple throughout the frosting, I wasn't able to smooth it over and have it look anything close to even semi-professional. . . so I present you with "Ugly Betty. "

The Tofu Chronicles, Part 1

I'm calling this Part 1, not because there are currently more parts to the story, but because I'm hoping that the future will hold more exciting tofu chronicles for me to share with you. . . so stay tuned.

Once in a while, I get inspired to experiment with tofu. I did so recently, for Jenni! :) My usual attempts don't often pan out very well, typically asking myself why I didn't order takeout instead, letting the professionals cook it for me. This attempt however was pretty good, so here you go.

I've tried marinating, baking, and stir frying tofu. No matter what, it still tastes like tofu. . . which isn't really a GOOD taste, but when mixed with other vegetables, seems to suffice and definitely make me happy because I'm getting a little protein -- so I suck it up and eat. This time, I decided to pretend the tofu was a vegetable.

I bought extra firm tofu, pressed it with a bunch of paper towels to get some of the water out, then cut it up in the thin-ish pieces you see in the picture. I then heated up a medium frying pan with a little bit of EVOO (the more flavor the better when it comes to tofu, right?) and then added the tofu, which I sprinkled rather generously with salt and pepper. I let this sit in the bubbling oil (almost enough to cover the pan completely, but lightly) for a while. . . not sure how long. When it got this nice golden color, I flipped each one (that was fun -- I ended up using tongs after getting frustrated with my spatula) and then added more salt and pepper, letting the other side golden up as well. Once done, I took them out and let them sit on paper towels to drain a bit. It was an interesting texture. . . somewhat crisp on the outside yet not the gushy ickiness tofu typically has on the inside. It was. . . cooked? It tasted okay on its own too. But it was MUCH BETTER tossed in a simple garden salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. I drizzled my favorite dressing on top (365 Balsamic Vinaigrette, the one sold in the refrigerated section -- there are two actually). It was a good dinner!

The I-have-no-food-but-I-want-soup Soup

Let me first apologize on behalf of ALL of us for being completely MIA for what, a month and a half now? That's just awful! It's time to get back into the swing of things.

You know when you need to eat, have no food, and don't want to go get groceries? I'm guessing this happens to all three of us here at BIFL (that's funny) and maybe to some of you readers -- all two of you. Here's what I came up with for dinner tonight. . .

I knew I wanted soup, but I didn't have much around the house. I had two medium tomatoes from a neighbor's garden that were getting a little soft, so putting them in a salad wasn't really going to happen. They had to be used, so here's what I did. I heated a little olive oil in a frying pan, cut the tomatoes up, and sauted them with salt and pepper. I let them go for maybe five or ten minutes, then started to crush the tomatoes with the back of my wooden spoon. I then added a big clove of chopped garlic and let it cook for a couple more minutes. At this point, it was more of a simmer because of all the tomato juice. I then pureed it in my mini food processor. (You could just use this as a delicious pasta sauce and maybe just add some basil and/or oregano!)

In a medium-large-ish saucepan (I started with a 3-quart but then it wasn't big enough and I had to transfer) I sauteed half of a large red onion in some olive oil. I let it go for five minutes or so, then added two cloves of chopped garlic. I then added about eight cups of hot water, the tomato mixture, and brought it to a boil. While waiting for it to boil, I added six teaspoons of Better Than Bullion vegetable paste (and two teaspoons of BTB mushroom paste because I ran out of the vegetable) and a bunch of dried basil. Looking at the onions float around, I decided they were lonely and needed another vegetable to keep them company. So I added some frozen peas to the now boiling soup, because you know I have tons of those in my freezer. That brought the temperature of the soup down for a bit, so when it came back to a boil again, I added some of that tiny star-shaped pasta. (I bought that as a mistake because someone decided to put it right behind a crumbled box of orzo at Shaws). I cooked the soup for another five minutes, and it was good. . . but a little salty. I luckily had some milk in the fridge, so I added a bunch of that, and the problem was seemingly fixed. So there you go.

I heart soup.

It's my turn to ask the question...

What is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Please note, I've said UTENSIL and not APPLIANCE. There's a difference. While it was my avocado slicer that prompted this post, it's my egg separator that prompted me to photograph it in action.

Pool Day fun

This post is over a month coming - but I promised to post pictures of the (mis)adventure, and I'm not one to disappoint. Back in June I threw a pool party here for my friends, and a conversation with Mel prompted me to want to make this masterpiece! I had a few days to prepare and accumulate the candy needed for the project, and a hunt for chicklets successfully ended when Mel found this great candy store in Austin for me (complete with Willy Wonka character 8-foot-tall salesman). My initial plan was to make this as a checkerboard cake, which is a three layer cake. My first attempt with this was riddled with mistakes. First, I did not cook them quite long enough, the chocolate cake was not fully cooked, but the white cake was and I didn't want to over do it. When I pulled them out one of the layers collapsed a LOT in the middle. I freaked out initially, but realized I could use this as the top layer of the pool cake, which would need the center cut out anyway. When I had this revelation I rushed to fix the cake, and cut out the center of it. While it was still in the pan. And not cooled. (anyone spot my mistakes here?) Now imagine trying to get the outer ring of the cake out of the pan in one piece. IMPOSSIBLE. I was struck with the brilliant idea of "pasting" it all together with frosting. Let's just say, this cake quickly landed in the trash and I began again, more slowly, attempting a two layer solid chocolate cake.

I made the two layers, cooled them, removed them from the pans and put them in the fridge for a few hours. Then I attempted to cut the hole in the center of one layer. I filled and stacked them, got on a thin crumb coat layer of frosting, and then I let it stand in the fridge overnight. This was probably my best decision, the fridge overnight allowed it to all firm up and gave it some support. Things looked MUCH better in the morning when I pulled it out to start again.See, that looks solid and sturdy - and pretty straight if I don't say so myself. Now I mixed up some very white frosting, and put on the final coat, and laid the tile (chicklet) border. I also poured the blue colored hard candy circle that would become the pool water. The original recipe called for Jell-O, but I didn't think the Jell-O could withstand the Texas heat, so I opted for some hard candy instead. When the pool water candy had sufficiently hardened I attempted to put it inside the pool - but I had made one more misstep. I hadn't made the circle of pool water precisely the same size as I had made the hole in the cake. In retrospect I wish I had made the pool water BEFORE layering the cakes, and just made it larger than the pool hole, and placed it under the top layer. So, I resorted to breaking the pieces and forcing them in a somewhat mosaic pattern. I was unhappy with this oversight, and it nearly ruined the whole cake for me.But, I kept on. Now for all the decorative touches. I used teddy grahams and colored twizzlers and gummy life savers and fruit stripe gum and starbursts and peach rings. I mixed a small amount of frosting with various colors and used a tooth pick for the bathing suits - those were the hardest, but I couldn't let these guys go naked, now could I?Now it was just the simple task of setting these guys all around the cake - a little bit of frosting to "glue" them down - and then quickly get the cake back in the fridge so it wouldn't melt away! In general, I am happy with the way it came out, my friends seemed to like it (and more than one person appreciated my attention to multi-cultural detail), but with all the mistakes I made along the way I was a little less than impressed. The next one will be better!!

I heart Oat Bran Muffins

I never make muffins, really. Muffins are kind of like cake. You've got your flour, sugar, butter/oil, eggs, etc. Muffins aren't generally healthy -- at all. THESE muffins however are very healthy, and much to my surprise, quite delicious.

I wanted to make some sort of healthy muffin, as I'll be away this week and will need a quick, energy-packed breakfast. This recipe simply came from the back of my package of Oat Bran. And get this, Michelle, NO PROCESSED SUGAR! That's right. So unlike you're typical cake/muffin, these use honey, no flour, oat bran of course, egg whites, salt, baking powder, a very small amount of oil, and optional raisins and nuts (I used both).

If you don't have this brand of oat bran around, let me know, and I can post the recipe. I highly recommend checking them out!

Blueberry Muffins

So I went to my local Farmer's Market this past week with Diane and Lyle. It actually just started this past week too. It was pretty small, but I was able to find some key items. I got some delicious corn on the cob, swiss chard, cucumbers, and BLUEBERRIES! :)

Scott saw the blueberries in the fridge and said, "I like blueberry muffins." I wasn't even planning on making blueberry muffins, but I looked around for a recipe, found one with the ingredients I actually had (who keeps buttermilk in their fridge on a regular basis? I ask you. I certainly don't.) and there you go. And you know what? They were pretty damn good. . . not healthy at ALL, but certainly yummy.

The recipe came from my beloved Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. Jenni, if you decide to make these (because I know you have at least one copy of the cookbook. . .) I highly recommend either waiting until they're completely cooled to take them out of the pan OR taking Martha's advice to grease and flour the pan. I used Baker's Joy instead, which is wonderful as you know, but the muffins were just really delicate and didn't come out of the pan very easily.

Isn't summer fruit just wonderful?!

4th of July Cupcakes

Better late than never, right? I made these cupcakes for Caitlyn's second (and not final!) birthday celebration. These were for a sleep-over she had with two of her best friends. I just plopped myself in front of the TV and went to town on these guys. It was fun! It also beat going crazy with smoothing over frosting on a cake -- over and over and over again, putting it in the fridge, and smoothing it over, over and over AGAIN. With cupcakes I feel like you can have more fun. It's okay for them to look homemade, right? What's also great about cupcakes is if you're making them for someone else, you can always have one or two for yourself. You can't exactly cut a piece of cake for yourself. . . and then give the cake away. Or maybe you can. . . extra frosting anyone?

That chocolate frosting

The recipe for that chocolate frosting I'm always referring to is actually a recipe for Mocha Buttercream Frosting. It offers a variation for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, so see below for those changes from the original recipe here:

Mocha Buttercream Frosting:
Makes 2 cups, enough to fill and frost an 8-inch round 2-layer cake

Note from the author, Carol Gelles:
Mocha is a hard flavor to pin down -- not quite chocolate and not quite coffee. I think this frosting has a good balance between the two flavors. If you prefer mocha with a strong coffee flavor, halve the cocoa; for a more chocolatey flavor, use less coffee and 1 tablespoon more cocoa.

Note from Mel:
I always make a 9-inch round 2-layer cake and this much frosting is NOT quite enough, so I would recommend 1.5X or 2X the recipe for that size. . . 2X if you want left-overs for spontaneous cupcakes later in the week (not that I've done that).

1 Tbs. hot water
1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 Tbs. sour cream
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (I usually don't measure this, OR sift. . . I just add it a little at a time and mix it well until the frosting's a good spreading consistency)

1. In a small bowl, stir together the water and coffee until the coffee is disolved.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa until completely combined. Beat in the coffee and sour cream. (Using a stand mixer doesn't mix this well enough. . . so while I DO use mine, I also have to get in there with a metal spoon to make sure it's really mixed well. . . it's annoying, but otherwise you're going to have spots of chocolate throughout later).
3. Beat in the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time until all the sugar has been incorporated.

Variation: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: Omit the instant coffee and water and use 2 tablespoons milk instead.

Updatey

1) Cardamom in my coffee is where it's at, hot or cold. I loooooooooove the flavor!

2) Something else I tried recently is cold-brewed coffee. Have you ever tried this? You've got to, especially if you're interested in making your own iced coffee. Even if you don't like iced coffee, you can still use the cold-brew method. You can look for the article in the NYTimes that was published last year, but the premise is to brew the coffee overnight, or 12 hours, in cold water, at double the strength. I love the coffee brewed this way, it just has a different taste than the traditional hot water method; and again, I tried it with the cardamom and the flavor is even more pronounced (but still subtle, if you can believe it). I LOVE IT. It's not Morocco, but it'll do for now.

3) I made a curried spinach and pea soup with the pound of peas that was dying a slow death in my freezer. I love me a good curry, but this soup was disappointingly disgusting for too many reasons to list here. It's not really soup season anyway, but that doesn't matter; I wouldn't have liked this soup in the dead of winter, either. I will not be buying peas again in the foreseeable future.

Pizza! Pizza!

While lounging at the pool last Saturday I was craving pizza, and I decided I'd make myself one for dinner. Saturday morphed into Wednesday - but I finally made the pizza. Because I had so many days to dream about it, I went all out. Introducing my white pesto sauce pizza with asparagus, tomatoes and mozzarella!

First, we'll start with the dough. I found a recipe for Parmesan Pizza dough, and I used that. First you combine one yeast packet, a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a cup of hot water. Stir it up until it's all dissolved and let it sit for 5 minutes. It will become foamy, this is good. Then add in 1 1/2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt, and stir it together. Continue adding flour by the quarter cup (until you've reached 2 3/4 total), mixing with hands each time to incorporate the newly added flour. Then, add in a half a cup of grated parmesan. Now for the fun, flour a clean surface and knead the dough. You want to make it smooth and uniform. It may still be a bit 'tacky' which is fine. Drop a tablespoon of oil in a bowl, and flip the dough through that, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warmish place (I use the top of my preheating oven) for an hour and a half. When it's done punch it down - literally - and roll it out. The recipe I read suggested to put corn meal on the pan before baking. I did this, but I'm not sure why!

While this was rising I roasted some garlic. I sliced the tops off of 4 heads of garlic, this proved to be too many, I could have gotten by with 2! Pour a bit of evoo on the cut end, sprinkle some salt and pepper and place cut-end down on an aluminum foil covered pan. I roasted for about an hour, at 350. It might have been too long, they were mushy - but since I don't have a food processor the mush was actually better.

The sauce started with a roux, two tablespoons each of butter and flour. A cup of milk (I used whole!) Heat and stir, heat and stir, until it thickens. Then I added in a few scoopfuls of pesto (not made from scratch, but purchased!) and I added about half of my garlic mush. Stir, stir, stir, heat, thicken.

When the dough was done and punched I rolled it out (by hand, for lack of rolling pin) and made a pizza crust. In retrospect, I made it too thick. I should have made a bigger pizza or used only part of the dough. Practice makes perfect. I poured the sauce on. Now I spread out some pre-sliced mozzarella balls, sliced roma tomatoes, and asparagus tips.

Because the crust was thick it took longer in the oven, maybe 20 minutes at 350. But, it was delish (and will be tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after!)

deconstructing

I'd been waiting for something spectacularly clever to say about this, and since NH seemed to be on hiatus also, I thought I had all the time in the world. Much like our scrabulous games, he's beaten me.

Please, go check this out: Deconstructing Dinner



I don't seem to get tired of watching various vegetables be sliced back together by some amazing knife skills. Keep 'em coming NH! (I'm still waiting for the Thanksgiving episode...the drive from SF to AusTex can't be that long, bring the pup for tofurkey day and you can film it!)

Happy Birthday....America!

While I was out yesterday afternoon watching the Red Sox Yankees game with some friends we devised our 4th of July fireworks viewing plan - to meet at a friend's house at 7:30pm and head over from there for the show starting at 8:30. By the time I got home from the game I had about 2 hours before I had to be ready to leave again, and I still had to go and walk the dog (as an aside, I've been dog-sitting for a week, and this dog likes to hike through the woods, where we see coyotes!!!) I left my house, headed for dogs house, and stopped at the grocery store on the way - I was not going to show up for pre-fireworks party empty handed. She likely doesn't know, but Melanie helped me devise this recipe while I was AT the grocery store. A few quick text messages back and forth and we'd decided on filling those little phyllo pastry cups with chocolate pudding and whipped cream. I decided to top them with strawberries and blueberries, for the full patriotic effect.

I must say, while this is like less homemade and more "semi" than what Sandra Lee would put on her show, they came out looking quite cute and being quite tasty. And, of course, the simple fact that I showed up with something in-hand made me quite pleased.

Happy and safe 4th to everyone!