Cinnamon Roll Addendum

I wanted to post a few changes to my cinnamon roll recipe. My previous recipe made delicious cinnamon rolls; however, I noticed that the dough was not as substantial and the cinnamon rolls fell apart easily. They were also overly sweet. I wanted to post a new recipe containing some changes that time has proven more than acceptable.

Begin these cinnamon rolls a day before you need them.

Cinnamon Rolls Improved

2 packages of active dry yeast
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup milk (warmed)
1/2 cup prepared mashed potatoes, chilled

1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of your mixer, pour the hot water over the sugar and yeast. Let this mixture dissolve for about 5 minutes or so. In the meantime, combine the butter and milk in a pan on the stove. Heat until the butter is melted, but avoid overheating. To cool down this mixture, add the cold mashed potatoes.

Once the yeast mixture is ready, strain in the milk mixture to remove any potato lumps that may remain, stirring with a fork to combine well. Add the sugar gradually, still mixing with a fork. Then add the egg and salt. A fork seems to incorporate the egg more easily. Fit the bowl into your mixer with the dough hook attachment and add 2 cups of flour. Let the mixer go until a very wet dough is made and flour is incorporated. Now, add the remaining flour, 1/2 a cup at a time with the mixer running. Personally, I hold back 1/2 cup of flour to incorporate by hand.

Once the dough comes together, pour it out onto a floured surface and knead just until it forms a smooth ball. This should not take terribly long. I use the flour I held back to avoid having too stiff a dough. Let dough rest in an oiled bowl in the refrigerator overnight with wax paper covering it. The dough will proof overnight and will have doubled in size by morning.

Topping

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Prep two 8 or 9 inch square or round pans by lightly buttering the bottoms and sides of the pans. Foil pans make for easy removal; you can simply cut the pan away from the rolls. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Like my proofing process, my topping has changed substantially. Begin by rolling the dough out to a 12 x 24 rectangle, but avoid rolling it too thin. Cinnamon rolls should be unapologetically large with thick, cinnamon-and-sugar coated layers. Combine the sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough. Sprinkle over the sugar mixture, pressing to adhere. Roll up the cinnamon roll tightly. Cut into cinnamon rolls about 1 1/2 inches thick. Rather than measurements, I shoot for about 10 - 12 cinnamon rolls.

Place them in the pans. Avoid overcrowding. These rolls need a chance to nearly double in size, but they do need the pan or other cinnamon rolls to grow with as well. 6 - 8 per pan seems to work fairly well. Let these rolls proof for at least an hour. The second rise may take a bit longer since the dough came from the refrigerator. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes, but check after 15 to be safe. You'll be looking for deep, brown tops and centers that are baked through.



Frosting

2oz cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioner's sugar

These cinnamon rolls are not nearly as sweet as my past ones. The frosting is delicious, but you decide if it's necessary. Combine all ingredients together until a thick, smooth frosting is formed. Add more sugar or milk to make the frosting thicker or thinner as necessary. Top the warm rolls with the frosting.



I wanted to post these updates in part because my recipe and process has fundamentally changed; recording that change here will allow me to come back to it later. I’d love to experiment with these more, but I don’t get much of a chance. After all, even a successful experiment leaves me with about a dozen cinnamon rolls heh.

In the future, I see a great sourdough bread experiment -also Brown Sugar cookies (and a brown sugar snickerdoodle variant), french macaroons, and chocolate-orange tarts.

Hiatus

I cooked for what felt like the first time in forever today. Since the move to Dayton and the start of work, I've relied pretty heavily on quick-fix meals and ready to eat dinners, not to mention the occasional pizza.

But it felt really good to actually cook today. I made some cold sesame noodles using carrots and a low-fat sesame sauce for lunch tomorrow. I'd love to post about that later, but I also want to tweak the sauce and my carrot-cooking method. In the mean time, I also made some really amazing chocolate truffles, the first confection of this holiday season.

I'd love to try Ina Garten's rum raisin truffle recipe, but I need to get comfortable with the basic process first. These are some pretty basic truffles that are creamy and amazing. They are at their most awesome when brought to room temperature, and they last in the refrigerator for a couple weeks.

Chocolate Truffles

4 oz Bitter-sweet chocolate
4 oz Semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coffee liqueur

Almonds, cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, etc...

Finely chop the chocolates and place in a heatproof metal bowl. Heat the cream until it just boils and strain over the chocolate. Let sit for a couple minutes, then stir. All (or certainly most) of the chocolate should be melted. Let sit and stir occasionally until the resulting ganache is creamy and smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and coffee liqueur to the ganache, whisking until well blended. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for about an hour. If necessary, place in the refrigerator and allow the mixture to firm up.

Scoop mixture by teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper. Chill in the refrigerator and prepare your toppings. I chopped some cocoa nibs and toasted some chopped, sliced almonds for this recipe. Once the balls of ganache have chilled, roll in the toppings. Serve at room temperature but keep in the refrigerator to maintain freshness and firmness.



These will make some delightful work gifts and a nice dessert later this week. I can't wait to try out those rum raisin truffles. I'd also like to try some strawberry balsamic truffles, but we'll have to see how things go...

Just a quick note...

Currently I am away from my kitchen; so for the next few weeks, posts will be sparse at best.

Also, corn chips and chocolate go surprisingly well together.

.
.
.

No.
Really.

I was watching this food network show (after so many they start to bleed together). It wasn't a cooking show per se, but it showed off different restaurants. One restaurant in particular featured a bar snack to accompany beer: pretzel sticks, corn ships, salt-roasted pecans, and melted milk chocolate.

I can't describe how well these components fit together. A new notch on the ol' salty + sweet headboard, I guess. It was delicious with a dark beer to boot.

Animal, Vegetable, Miserable...

I have recently started eating meat again. Having moved in with the boyfriend, my meat-eating habits have become more commonplace than they once were. The problem is that I'm noticing more problems: upset stomachs, strange cravings, and generally unhealthy eating habits. Seemingly, by letting meat back into my diet in a major way, I've let other problems come in that have made me feel less than awesome.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going vegan, but I definitely want to start eating more vegetables, fish, eggs, chicken, and keep other meats to special occasions. However, I can never curb my diet without attempting to get away from my ridiculous sweet tooth. Well, that's kind of a misnomer; it's also a fat tooth. This is where bran muffins come in. Healthy and chock full of fiber and protein, these guys make for a very filling breakfast and a great start to my day.

A Healthier Bran Muffin

Typically, store bought bran muffins have very little bran, loads of fat, and far too much sugar. I'd like to trim down on all of this and make a healthier version. This recipe produces a delicious muffin base that can be modified in at least a couple of ways.

1 cup Bran cereal (I use Fiber One bran cereal because it doesn't contain sugar or high-fructose corn syrup)
1 1/2 cups low-fat or non-fat milk

1/2 cup unsulphered dark molasses
1/4 cup splenda dark brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce + 2 tbsp nonfat greek yogurt
1 large egg

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

For the basic muffin mix, combine the bran cereal and milk and let it stand for 5 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and prepare a muffin tin with liners.

Add the molasses, brown sugar splenda, applesauce, yogurt, and the egg to the bran cereal/milk mixture. Mix until combined. While the bran will soften, don't expect it to totally dissolve until the muffins are baked.

In another bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the liquid mixture, and mix just until it all comes together (avoid over mixing). Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. Because of the bran and the molasses, the muffins will get fairly dark. Cool, remove from the pan, and enjoy regularity like never before!



Alternatives:

Apple Cinnamon Muffins: Add 1 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and mix in 1 large finely chopped, Granny Smith apple with the liquid ingredients.

Mocha Muffins: add 1 tbsp instant coffee to the milk and bran. Add 1 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Finally, fold in 3 oz of chopped dark chocolate. This alternative naturally comes with a little extra fat and calories.

I've tried both of these alternatives and they worked out wonderfully. Both lent themselves to the dense texture that the bran and wheat flour provide. I imagine adding blueberries would make a delicious muffin as well. Pictured are the mocha muffins. I used parchment paper to fashion some muffin cups and plan to do so again; they provide plenty of support for the batter and they're the perfect size for unwrapping and holding the muffin.

Nutrition Data
(Compiled the old fashioned way with impeccable math skills, a pen, and some paper...)

Per regular bran muffin:
Calories: 170 calories
Fat: 1.5 grams
Fiber: 5 grams (or 20% of the daily recommended amount)
Protein: 3 grams (okay well maybe not as chock full of protein as I'd like...)

A Fail and a Success... Blueberry Jam

So I decided to try out some Asian appetizers for my bf's birthday/going away party. He's going to China, so why not have some chinese appetizers? Ah the first of my attempts into Asian food. Well, not technically first, but eggrolls are pretty straightforward. I will say that store bought broccoli slaw mix and shredded cabbage make a delightful, easy filling when cooked with sesame oil and soy sauce, but I digress.

Pot stickers were a little tricky, folding and crimping the wonton wrapper and making sure the liquid evaporates after cooking them; I'm not used to either of these methods, but I guess we all live and learn. Well, the pot stickers stuck to the pan, but the filling was delicious. Note to self: use a non-stick pan... no, seriously.

Onto better and brighter ideas, at least until I get the nerve to attempt the pot stickers again. Now for some blueberry jam.

Blueberry Jam



Start with 1 pint blueberries
1/2 pouch liquid fruit pectin
juice of half a lemon and the zest of 1 whole lemon*
2 cups sugar

In a pan combine blueberries and sugar, crushing some of the blueberries so that the end result will have a nice texture.

Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and cook over medium to medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a full boil over medium high heat. Stir in pectin and boil hard for 1 minute.



Remove from heat and ladle into hot jars. If you're like me, I prefer to let this cool in the pan, transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator. In the fridge, it will last 2-3 weeks, thanks to the acid and the sugar. However, such a small amount of jam will not last even that long.

*I would like to say that you get a delightful, lemony zing in this jam. I love lemon and I love lemon with blueberries even more, so this is the perfect jam for me. However, if you're not such a fan, I'd reduce the lemon juice and zest by half.

Coming up next - healthy bran muffins. I know I'm an old man, but I love love LOVE bran...

Homemade Coffee Liqueur

I'm not even sure where I got this recipe from, but I heard about it on one cooking show or another. Homemade coffee liqueur? I was doubtful. And truthfully, it's not really on par with Kahlua or other coffee liqueurs... it's something else though, something delicious. You can drink this straight; it's really not that strong. What's even better is mixing it with milk; because of the vodka, it's like an instant White Russian. Mixed with coffee and cream, it makes a pretty heavenly drink as well.

Homemade Coffee Liqueur

3 cups vodka

2 cups sugar (vanilla sugar works wonders here)
2 cups water

1/2 cup instant coffee
1 tbsp good vanilla

Combine the sugar and the water in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool and add the instant coffee and vanilla.

In another container, pour in the vodka, followed by the coffee, vanilla syrup. Let it set for about 1 - 2 weeks, shaking it every day. After a week or two, you're ready to have fun.



I will say that this makes quite a bit of liqueur and, in the future, I may only half the recipe.

The Wedding Cake

This White Chocolate and Lemon Wedding Cake originally comes from a Bon Appetit magazine that can be found at Epicurious.

The Wedding Cake

I’ve made this cake a total of three times including this most recent time. I’ve never made it as a complete recipe (ie a complete wedding cake). However, the recipe is incredibly helpful—half of it makes enough for either one 12-inch cake or one 9-inch cake and one 6-inch cake. To clarify, what I am providing here is one half recipe; this is really for my own benefit, since I always have trouble finding this recipe when I need it and have to go through halving the recipe each time. Additionally, I've altered some of the order of events for my own benefit.

The process of baking this cake is involved; it contains two fillings: lemon curd and a lemon, white-chocolate mousse. Lemon + white chocolate = heaven. So first up is the lemon curd. This can be made as much as a week in advance; it has enough sugar and lemon juice to preserve it for at least that long.


Lemon Curd

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
18 egg yolks (reserve the whites for the cake)
1 1/2 cups butter, chilled and cubed

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add in the lemon juice and whisk until incorporated. Add the egg yolks and half the butter, whisking until combined. Heat over medium heat, whisking continuously, until thick—thanks to the cornstarch it should thicken well before it gets to the boiling stage. In a large pot with plenty of space, it only took about 7 minutes to thicken.

Remove from heat and gradually add the remaining butter to help cool down the curd. Strain it through a sieve to remove any solids. Press some plastic on top, and chill until thickened and delicious.



As a filling, the lemon curd is delicious. It's great on toast as well, heh.


Lemon White Chocolate Mousse

2 cups Lemon Curd
8 oz white chocolate (Lindt continues to be my favorite both for taste and price)
1 1/2 cups whipped cream

This could not be easier. Keep the lemon curd chilled. Melt the white chocolate gently in the top of a double boiler. Do not overheat. In another chilled bowl, with chilled utensils, beat the chilled (get the pattern?) whipped cream until medium peaks form. Fold in the warm white chocolate. Next, fold in the lemon curd in three editions. Cover the bowl and chill for at least one day and up to four days.

See? Easy peasy. Additionally, each of the previous fillings makes excellent desserts in their own right. The lemon curd is such an amazing multi-tasker. Throw it in a pie shell and top it with some blueberries for a quick and easy tart or have it on some toast for a decadent breakfast. The mousse is just ridiculously amazing; there’s no other way to describe it.


The Frosting

8 oz white chocolate (Lindt continues to be my favorite)

2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 cups packed powdered sugar (yes, packed)

3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

In the top of a double boiler, melt the white chocolate.

In a mixer, beat the whipping cream and 1 1/4 cups (roughly half) of the powdered sugar until medium-firm peaks form. Transfer to another bowl.

In the mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until it's light and fluffy. Add in half of the sugar, followed by the white chocolate.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in 4 additions, using the first addition to just lighten the cream cheese. Cover and chill. Because of the use of cream, rather than butter, the frosting is spreadable right from the refrigerator. However, it needs to remain chilled once the cake is frosted.


Orange Buttermilk Cake

5 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
5 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp thawed frozen orange juice concentrate
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups egg whites (about 10 large reserved from the lemon curd)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar

This is a little involved. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing and flouring the 12-inch pan (or the 9 and the 6-inch pans). Either way, your cake pans should have 3-inch-high sides.

Next, sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together three times in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, orange juice concentrate, and vanilla.

Beat the egg whites in a mixer with the cream of tarter until medium peaks form. Transfer to another bowl. In the mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the oil, followed by the remaining sugar. Make sure to scrape down the bowl frequently. Once everything is incorporated, mix in the flour alternately with the buttermilk (four additions of the flour, three of the buttermilk).

Finally, stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten and fold in the remaining egg whites in three additions. Bake in the prepared pan or pans of your choice. Bake the cakes as follows, based on the times provided in the original recipe. Note that the cakes will be a dark brown, but in my experience, these times can be reduced because our oven bakes hot.

12-inch pan: 1 hour and 25 minutes
9-inch pan: 1 hour and 18 minutes
6-inch pan: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Cool cakes in their pans for 30 minutes before removing. The original recipe recommends having used cake pans with removable bottoms, but I've had no trouble using regular cake pans since finding these sizes can be tricky.


The Assembly

Separate the cake, regardless of the size used, into three layers. Top the bottom layer with about 1 3/4 cups lemon mouse. Drop the lemon curd onto the cake (about 1/2 to 2/3 cup) and spread evenly. Make sure not to spread either filling to the edge of the cake. The fillings, even chilled, have a tendency to leak out of the sides.



The first layer, topped with both the mousse and the lemon curd. I highly recommend chilling the first layer thoroughly (for about an hour) before proceeding. After the second layer is complete, top with the third layer and chill for at least 30 minutes just to allow the fillings to set and firm up. If the curd leaks out the side at all, it will do so during this time, which is why it's important to let it rest before frosting.

Once the cake and the fillings have had ample time to firm up and set, begin frosting the cake. I've had the best luck by removing the frosting from the fridge and stirring it to loosen it up a few minutes before the cake is ready to be frosted. Start by frosting the sides, making sure to use enough frosting to "cement" the fillings in the cake. Traditionally, you begin by frosting the top of the cake and then work around the side, but by starting on the sides, you're preventing the cake from moving too much while you're frosting the top.



This is obviously the pitcure from the website because I totally fail at taking a picture of the finished result. However, with an offset spatula and a little work, the frosting was incredibly smooth, even, and shiny. Easily one of my better frosting jobs.

This cake is definitely a special, once a year event. It's worked wonderfully every time, but it can be a little tricky. When in doubt, keep everything well chilled. Up next, I need to post some more muffin recipes and I still want to try steaming some salmon in a pouch... after these past few weeks I need to start watching what I eat more closely!

A healthy, light, French dessert

I served this with some oven roasted chicken, the light fettucini alfredo from a few posts ago, and some steamed broccoli. Needless to say, the meal was a hit.

Raspberry Clafoutis

This recipe was a pure experiment. I’ve grown comfortable with some basic substitutions for making slightly healthier desserts that are lower in fat and sugar. I’ll start with the original recipe then explain my low-fat, low-sugar substitutions.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

3 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

2 cups raspberries
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Here are my substitutions. Rather than 3 tbsp butter, I used 1 tbsp melted butter mixed with 2 tbsp nonfat greek yogurt. Rather than the sugar, I actually used a blend of 1 tbsp splenda brown sugar, 1 tbsp fructose sugar, and 3 tbsp splenda granular. This is a complicated yet tasty mix, but I imagine using only regular splenda granular would produce solid results here as well. Now back to the directions…

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch gratin dish or cake pan.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt. In another bowl beat the eggs, butter, almond extract, and lemon zest until smooth. Add the milk to the liquid mixture, and mix until incorporated. Pour the liquid mixture over the dry mixture until light and very smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour the batter into the gratin/pie dish, and top with the raspberries.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the clafoutis is set and golden in color. Let it cool slightly then dust with confectioners’ sugar, cut into wedges, and serve with some ice cream.



The dessert is great, but the raspberries were just a wee bit tart. Up next, a Lemon Wedding Cake, and eventually I want to be cooking "en papilotte" (french(?) for in pouches)...

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

Keith (the bf) and his friends like to have these occasional get-togethers at each other's houses. Everyone makes a dish, the person who hosts makes the main course, and everyone has a great time (also there's a lot of wine involved). He and I hosted the last one and we made Ina Garten's Tequila Lime Chicken. Now anyone that's ever heard me talk about my fondness for the Barefoot Contessa knows this already: I love Ina Garten. None of her recipes that I've tried have ever turned out bad or, for that matter, less than perfect. They're incredibly and consistently spot on.

Needless to say, the Tequila Lime Chicken was a hit. This week, Keith's friend Shannon was hosting, and Keith volunteered us to make a dessert. I learned about this on Tuesday night, and since the dinner was Wednesday evening, I didn't have loads of time to plan.

Ever since it was published in the now-defunct Gourmet magazine, Raspberry Buttermilk Cake has been making its rounds on food blogs with various changes and alterations. The concept is simple enough: a tender, moist, single-layer buttermilk cake topped with some delicious, ripe berries. What could go wrong?



FAIL.

However, I was vigilant and determined. I have a new, professional stand mixer for Pete's sake!



Okay, okay, that was a cheap way to show off the mixer that I finally took a pic of. Either way, the cake was easy and quick to make so after the first fail, I decided to try it again. After double-checking that I did everything right, I looked at other blogs that had featured this cake. No one seemed to have any problems at all?!

I'm no pastry chef, but I certainly know my way around baked goods. The cake stuck in the pan, despite greasing and flouring, because the blueberries that are placed on top sunk down to the bottom of the cake. I'm not sure how other people had not experienced this before. I decided to take out double insurance. I lightly floured the blueberries, and I lined the cake bottom with parchment. The blueberries still sank, but the cake came out beautifully the second time around. I even made some berry-whipped cream to accompany it.

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake with Berry-Whipped Cream

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup blueberries, washed and dried
1/2 tbsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the parchment, and dust the pan with flour.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and mix until incorporated. Add the egg and beat well.

Add the flour in thirds, alternately with the buttermilk. Begin and end with the flour and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl of the mixer as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries on top and dust the top with the 1/2 tbsp sugar.



Bake at 400 degrees for about 18-22 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. The cake should be evenly browned and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes then invert and remove the parchment paper very carefully. This is a shot of the cake upside down after the parchment has been removed:



Berry-Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1/4-1/3 cup sugar
1 cup blackberries/raspberries

In a chilled mixer bowl, whip the cream until thickened but still soft. While whipping, mix in the sugar (to taste). Once the cream is thick with stiff peaks, whip in the berries by hand. It won't take long and the berries will break up, coloring the whipped cream and imparting there delightful berry goodness throughout.



After all of this, the dinner was canceled at the last minute and postponed until next week. Keith and I were left with two cakes, one in significantly better condition than the other. I decided to try to freeze the nice cake while Keith and I nommed on the less-than-nice cake with some whipped cream last night for dessert. While it wasn't picture perfect, it was damned tasty and the whipped cream was phenomenal!

Blackberry Cheesecake Pots (Pots de Gateau au Fromage?)

The title is proof that I don't speak french.

The dessert, however, is proof that I love cheesecake. The problem with cheesecake, at least for me, is the time and quantity. Now, while I feel like I could eat a cheesecake by myself, this is not a feat to which I aspire. Frankly, I can't remember an event that's warranted baking an entire cheesecake anyway. That's where these delightful little pots come in. Single serving, cheesecake filling goodness. I only wish I had a nice crunchy biscotti or even a graham cracker to enjoy with these guys.

Blackberry Cheesecake Pots

8oz cream cheese (use light if you must, but for the love of all that is good, avoid fat-free)
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

1 pint blackberries, washed, dried, and divided

In the bowl of a mixer--a mixer just like my brand new professional Kitchen Aid maybe???--break up the cream cheese and beat until creamy and some air has been incorporated into it. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp cream, vanilla, and beat on medium high until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is lightened.

In another bowl beat the remaining 1/4 cup of cream until slightly thick. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and beat until soft peaks have formed. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. The whipped cream may not be fully incorporated into the cream cheese. Add most of the blackberries (I reserved about 8 for garnishes), and mix on medium speed until the berries are broken up and the mixture is uniform.

Spoon into ramekins or any other fun single-serving dish and refrigerate to allow it to firm up. Garnish with remaining blackberries. Done! This is super fast and incredibly easy to make. It's decadent and definitely satisfies that cheesecake urge.



Now to see how I can make them a little lower in the fat department...

Other things I've tried lately...

• I haven't updated in a bit, and this is my first post from my new apartment in Dayton. We're still unpacking everything. Ha. But I have cooked a bit and definitely have some fun things I want to mention.

• Alton Brown's Pizza Pizzas dough is AMAZING and I will be using it again. I owe my friend Anne a debt of gratitude for teaching me how to make delicious pizza.

• Kale chips... they've been around the blogosphere for a while and, given my penchant for trying healthy foods, I thought I'd give a recipe a whirl--two whirls in fact. The results of the first attempt were great. I simply tossed some kale with a little garlic infused olive oil, salt, pepper, hungarian spicy paprika, and baked them until they were dry. The results were great and tasty, though the chips don't withstand the test of time well. The second attempt was just disappointing, but I think I used a different, inferior variety of kale. I'll work on this more in the future.

Banana Maple Muffins

Personally, it irks me when I read a food blog that claims to provide a "low-fat" and "guilt-free" muffin recipe but fails to deliver. As someone who takes nutrition seriously, when I see 1/3 cup oil (read: 75 grams of fat) in such a recipe, I know it's because of carelessness. I'm all for healthy fats in a well-balanced diet, but we can get those from other places than our "guilt-free" morning muffins.

I'm not sure if I can call these whole wheat. Truthfully, I'm using a mixture of white all-purpose and whole wheat flour because I'm a bit scared of the texture of a muffin made with 100% whole-wheat flour.

I'm using my yogurt/applesauce trick again (plus 1 tbsp of butter) in order to give these muffins some delicious texture. Additionally, since there's no crumb topping, these guys are going to be nice and light. Each muffin has only 190 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. I'm pretty darned proud of these muffins from a nutritional standpoint. The sweetness, and a good chunk of the calories, come from pure maple syrup. It's definitely a splurge, since I don't usually keep any in, but it definitely makes a difference in the flavor of these muffins.

Banana Maple Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 large mashed bananas
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I love muffins because the directions are so easy. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line your muffin tray. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients until well combined. In another bowl mix the mashed bananas, maple syrup, egg, applesauce, yogurt, butter, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Scoop into the muffin tin and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes or until the pass the toothpick test.

Having tried the recipe, and having failed to take any pictures, I'm not yet 100% happy with them. It might be some displeasure with the texture of banana muffins in general, but I think I may try the 100% whole wheat approach next time. And rather than mashing the bananas, I'll chop them and fold them into the mixture last. More experiments to come...

Oven-baked Fries

This recipe comes courtesy of another www.tastespotting.com blog find. Basically, these are the best oven-baked french fries I've ever had.

The recipe is a bit heavy on the procedure--you have to soak the wedges in hot water, heat the oil on the pan, cover the fries in foil, then uncover them and later flip them over. However, the result makes the fries very much worth the preparation. I wish I had a better camera so I could really show the crispy outer layer of potato goodness.



Oven-baked French Fries

3 medium russet potatoes*
1 1/2 tbsps olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and arrange an oven rack towards the bottom of the oven. Cut into roughly even-sized wedges, and soak them in hot water (from the tap) for 10 minutes, then drain and dry the wedges thoroughly.

Pour the oil onto your baking sheet, and place it in the oven to heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and toss the potato wedges and hot oil together on the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the wedges with foil and place into the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until they have started to brown in spots on the bottom. Turn the fries over using tongs or a spatula and return to the oven for another 5-15 minutes or until nicely browned.

*This recipe definitely lends itself to multiplying or dividing as your needs dictate. Personally, I'd be hard-pressed to fit more than three potatoes worth of wedges onto a single baking sheet, but that's just me. I first made this recipe using only one potato and reduced the oil to just under a tbsp.

Blueberry Muffin Variation

For this recipe, I was more diligent in my use of crumble.

I used whole wheat, unbleached all-purpose flour just because.

I kept with using only blueberries this time. No raspberry sinkholes, thank you very much.

I also added 1 tbsp of butter to the batter to help the texture along. For the original recipe, scroll down to my previous post. I told you I would be on a muffin kick and I think I'm incredibly happy with these blueberry muffins.

The fat content is still rather low, only about 3.5-4 grams per muffin. Frankly, it would have been about 1.5-2 grams without that damned crumble. But how can anyone resist?



A gift for my friend Amanda for all of her help this quarter. She is truly amazing!

Blueberry Muffins

So I made these horrendous mexican chocolate snickerdoodle cookies a while back. I say horrendous because I tried to make them healthy. That's right, I broke the cardinal rule of baking: I attempted to alter a recipe that I had never used to begin with. And what's worse is that I attempted to make them healthy by substituting applesauce for the oil in the recipe. The oil -- that's why I thought I could get away with it. Of course you can't substitute applesauce for butter, but surely if a recipe calls for oil, then using applesauce is totally legit, right?

Fail.

However, the experience got me thinking -- these cookies came out all nasty and cake-y and weird. However, if you have something that's already meant to be cake-y, then applesauce could work as a substitute, virtually eliminating the fat from the recipe, right? Then, I realized I had been going about this all wrong. Let cookies have their fat -- they need it. But what doesn't need a lot of fat?

Blueberry Muffins.

I started with a basic recipe for blueberry muffins with a crumb topping. I still want to tweak some things. In particular, the muffins I made also contain raspberries simply because I had some extra laying around. The raspberries were tasty, but they didn't do too much for the structural integrity of the muffin, that's for certain. In terms of fat, there is still an egg yolk in the recipe, but I eliminated the oil, replacing it, quite successfully I might add, with a mixture of applesauce and nonfat greek yogurt (my new kitchen baking staple). The results were a firm muffin with a coarse crumb -- just how I like them. Like I said, I still need to do some tweaking, but this is a great place to start. I should note too that I may be on a muffin kick soon - they're one of my favorite foods, and I've never been 100% happy with how they turn out... at least up to this point.

Healthier Option: Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt
1 egg
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup sugar (a mix of white and brown is delightful)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin either by greasing and flouring the muffin cups or by using paper liners.

In a bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl combine the applesauce, yogurt, egg,lemon zest, and milk. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and stir or whisk together, just until combined. Avoid overmixing the batter -- I count to 10 and then stop. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Prepare the crumb topping: mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon together. Cut in the butter until crumbs form.*

Fill the muffin cups to the top with batter and top with crumb topping. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. Start checking after 20, just to be safe but the muffins should be brown and puffed up. Rotating the pan may be necessary halfway through cooking if your oven heats unevenly. For me, this yielded 8 muffins in a 1/2-cup capacity muffin tin.



*I didn't substitute or alter the crumb topping in order to make it healthier. I did however, only use about half of the crumb topping for all of the muffins. Of course, you could simply eliminate it altogether.

I've really needed to post some things...

But school has taken a turn for the crazy, hence my absence for the last two months. I definitely love writing in my blog and logging my recipes. It's something I plan on making time for in the future. I've even been working on a new Wordpress blog to replace this one since blogger's format is getting a bit old for me.

Either way I have about three interesting things I've been working on. First up is a new, light alfredo sauce I got from a Runner's World magazine. It sounded delicious, but I was concerned because I had previously tried a recipe from Runner's World that was kind of a total failure - as in, there was no fixing it - damned "pasta toss."

But it is Runner's World, not Chef's Wold.

Either way, this lighter alfredo sauce was AMAZING. Rocco DiSpirito provided the recipe and his trick was to use chicken stock and 5% greek yogurt to mimick the creaminess of alfredo sauce. BRILLIANT. Additionally, it removed the need for loads of butter and cream. I went a step further and used 0% (that's right, fat free) Fage greek yogurt. The results were nothing short of amazing. Now, of course, parmesan cheese still does contain some fat, but over all, this is definitely a healthier version.

Light Alfredo Sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp butter

2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
3/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt

Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for two minutes. In the mean time, combine the cornstarch, nutmeg, and chicken broth, stirring until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the chicken broth to the garlic and bring to a simmer, raising the heat slightly, if necessary. Let the mixture thicken slightly, then add 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese. Stir or whisk until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the yogurt until smooth and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Use the reserved parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top of the dish.

I tossed this with some leftover spaghetti (I know I know, not the best sauce/pasta combo but it's what I had on hand) and some broccoli. The result was delightful, ridiculously easy to make, and comparatively healthy.


Next up is Alton Brown's pancake mix. I've recently been re-watching some Good Eats dvds I got from my wonderful friend Anne, and I've realized how necessary it is to get back to the basics sometimes. Brown's pancake mix will no doubt succeed so, having not tried to make a pancake with it yet, I have no hesitation in posting the recipe so that, in the future, I don't have to pull out the dvd again.

Alton Brown's Pancake Mix
(This can be doubled to the extent of making 6 times this recipe)

1 cup All-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Combine well and SHAKE!!!

For each cup of dry mix, you'll need the following wet ingredients:

2 tbsp melted butter
1 egg, separated
1 cup buttermilk

Combine the egg yolk with the butter and the egg white with the buttermilk. Whisk the liquid ingredients together. In a separate bowl, scoop out one cup of the pancake mix. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined (AB did it for a count of 10 seconds).

Heat griddle to 350 degrees and go wild. Wait for bubbles to appear on one side before flipping the pancakes.

I plan on trying these out tomorrow, but I have no doubt they'll work just fine.


The final food item I've been working on is a cold oatmeal. I love oatmeal - as far as breakfasts are concerned, it's hard to beat oatmeal - but it's decidedly a cool-weather food. So I've been experimenting, perhaps most successfully with soaking oats over night in applesauce in the refrigerator. Add some cinnamon and raisins and you've got a pretty delectable morning ahead of you. It will take time and experimentation though. I'd love to incorporate bananas into it. On a separate note - I just had a thought - why not carrot fettucini noodles and broccoli alfredo? That will be my dinner tomorrow night...

Ha!

I love waking up to things like this from xkcd.

Eggplant Parmesan My Way

Well, maybe not my way per se because it's a slight adaptation from a recent Bon Apetit recipe.

Basically, they updated the classic Eggplant Parmesan using broiled eggplant as opposed to the battered and fried variety. Since my goal is to make this a delicious, low-carbohydrate meal, I figured I would use the same method. Incidentally, if you happen to have a grill pan, grilled eggplant would be pretty damned delightful as well.

Low-Carbohydrate Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium to large size eggplant, rinsed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
salt

1 1/2 tsp olive oil
5 oz fresh spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 oz feta*
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
1 egg

1 8 oz can tomato sauce (or Marinara sauce if you don't have tomato sauce on hand)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Sprinkle the eggplant slices on each side with salt and layer on paper towels or on a nice, long cooling rack over the sink to drain. Let these guys sit for about an hour before continuing with them.

In the mean time, make the filling. In a large pan, heat oil and garlic over medium heat. When the garlic begins to sizzle, cook for about 2 minutes to remove some of the intensity. Add the spinach and cook until nearly wilted. Remove from heat (spinach will likely continue to wilt, if not, it's okay, the difference in texture is quite pleasant). Let cool.

In a bowl, combine the cheeses, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the cooled spinach mixture to the filling. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Now back to the eggplant. Once the hour is up, preheat the broiler in your oven. Rinse the excess salt off of the eggplant slices under water and pat dry. Arrange on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush olive oil on both sides of eggplant and broil until brown, roughly 3-4 minutes on each side, but don't let these guys out of your sight - there's a hairsbreadth difference between delightfully brown and disgustingly black. Once the slices are finished let them cool until easy to handle.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a heaping 1-2 tbsp of filling onto the center of each eggplant slice and roll up (I ended up having exactly the right amount - how often does that happen?!). Coat the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan with a little tomato sauce. Place eggplant rolls in dish like so:



Top eggplant rolls with remaining tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. At this point, these guys could be refrigerated for up to a day (as per the Bon Apetit recipe). Bake, covered in foil, for 30 minutes (40 minutes if coming straight from the refrigerator). Remove foil and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes more until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.



These did take some time to make, but they really weren't that complicated. Describing the process, now that was complicated! I had mine with a simply dressed side salad. This makes enough for 3 servings.

Total carbohydrates: 60.
Total fat: 25.

There are more carbohydrates if you use marinara sauce rather than tomato sauce. I have to say that the tomato sauce, after cooking and combining with the parmesan cheese and some of the filling, was incredibly tasty on its own - I think store bought marinara might actually have been overpowering had I used that. Per serving, and I have to say that it makes three hefty servings of three rolls a piece, it breaks down to 20 carbohydrates. This is a bit intense for my cleanse, but it can be a good reward at the end of a long day. Additionally, if you're careful with how much oil you use, this is a very light, but filling, meal as well containing only about 25 grams of fat total, or about 8 grams per serving. I didn't count the calories, but since most calories come from carbohydrates and fats, something tells me it would be pretty light.

*the feta cheese was a total add lib on my part - I had a tiny bit left over in the fridge but figured it would go well with the spinach and garlic and would provide a nice tanginess to the filling

It's been quite a while...

Well, only a couple weeks. Since my last post I've gone through finals and most of my spring break.

Currently, in terms of my eating habits, I'm a little disappointed in myself. I've maintained my weight loss from last summer, and I've definitely toned up a bit as well, but I haven't lost any more weight. I'm setting a goal to lose 10 - 15 pounds by the end of spring quarter. That averages 1.5 pounds a week which, considering my running, should not be too difficult. The trick is going to be eating healthier more consistently. This past quarter saw a week or two of eating well followed by a week of eating not so well and weekend bingeing definitely occurred more often than I would have liked.

What I'd like to do is go through a 1 - 2 week carb cleanse, similar to phase 1 of the atkins diet where most carbohydrates (except for fiber) would be eliminated from my diet. In the past, especially when I've been eating healthfully, I noticed that my carbohydrate intake was restricted to vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots, and occasionally some brown rice. This past winter quarter, and even fall quarter to some extent, definitely saw the end of that, so this cleansing process is really only to reset my eating habits. Also, the elimination of refined sugar will be particularly welcome since I have a sweet tooth that has gotten insanely out of hand in the past few weeks.

My plan after the next 2 weeks is to slowly become more reliant on healthy, whole-grain carbohydrates and vegetables. Ideally, I'd love to integrate oatmeal and other healthy carbohydrates into my breakfast options. However, for the rest of the day, I'd much rather stick with vegetables and fruits. Ultimately, I'd love to maintain this eating habit with a couple splurges during the week (which will definitely necessitate some dessert experimentation).

Basically, I'd really like to give this cleanse a shot and see what happens. First on the menu is an eggplant parmesan that should be pretty delightful. I've got a couple other recipe ideas to try out later, but I'd like to keep things as healthy and as vegetable-and-fruit oriented as possible right now. Updates and recipes to come...

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

At long last, my Moroccan Chicken and Lentils post. This recipe comes direct from my friend/colleague Jess. She gave me some of this to try and I had to have the recipe. The cinnamon flavor combined with the subtle heat in this dish is amazing. It's incredibly hearty on it's own but if you wanted to make it go farther, serving this with basmati rice or pita chips would be pretty amazing.

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

1 8oz package baby carrots
1 1/2 cups lentils, uncooked
1 1/2 lbs frozen chicken breast tenders (although I used thighs for incredibly tender meat)
2 tbsp minced garlic
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 (14 1/2 oz) cans fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth

Place all ingredients, in order listed, in a 4 or 5-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on high setting for 5 hours. Alternatively, cook on high setting for 1 hour, then reduce to low setting and cook for 7 hours.



Is that not ridiculously easy?! Also I was thinking that, if you wanted a vegetarian option, adding more carrots and a couple cans of chickpeas would be pretty out of this world. My only worry is that the chickpeas may get over cooked, so adding the chick peas halfway through the cooking process rather than at the beginning may be necessary.

This yields 6-1 cup servings and per serving has only 320 calories, 2 grams of fat and ridiculous amounts of protein and fiber.


After only a couple hours cooking. As it cooks down, the lentils get incredibly soft and break down a bit. The end result is not the prettiest image ever (but then, greyish green was never an attractive hue), but trust me, it's delicious.

Up next, I've got a really healthy, vegetarian pasta and white bean toss I'm working for a quick evening meal through the week that can turn into a healthy lunch option.

Stolen from my friend Charles' website, who stole it from...

Not a typical blog update, but an interesting one none the less. This is one of those delightful maps of America. In this case, a map of Hamburger places in the U.S. The scariest part? McDonald's is black.



Moroccan Chicken and Lentils still to come, likely on Friday or Saturday.

I'll have the penne a la arabiata!

The title comes from an hilarious Eddie Izzard piece from his "Full Circle" dvd discussing the Death Star canteen:



I can't help thinking of this bit any time I cook with penne. I want a pasta that's healthy and not too heavy, so my idea for this pasta casserole dish is to use one of those delightful maxed-out pastas (you know the kind, with protein and fiber and omega 3s and everything under the sun). Additionally, I'll use a mix of broccoli and spinach to account for vegetables. Finally, I'll keep with parmesan cheese (yeah yeah yeah, parmesan and not parmiggiano reggiano - but let's face it, I'm on a student's budget) to add flavor without a lot of extra calories. Basically, I see this as a glorified mac and cheese, with pan seared chicken on top. Sure the chicken could be cut up and baked with the pasta as well but when your entire dinner comes in one dish, I have a hard time not engulfing the entire thing.

Also, I've decided to try and start doing better at counting calories. I need to be more aware of what, calorically speaking, goes into my body, and in making these meals, sometimes it's easy to forget that every tsp of olive oil really adds up.

Spinach and Broccoli Penne with Pan-Seared Chicken

1lb uncooked penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil
3 lean chicken breasts

1 tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup chicken stock
2 1/2 cups milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

12 oz package frozen spinach
11 oz package frozen broccoli


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Begin by setting a pot of salted water onto boil. While that is getting going, set a large over medium heat and let it get warm. Add the olive oil to the pot and let the oil heat up. Rinse and pat the chicken breasts dry, season them with salt and pepper and place the chicken breasts into the pan. Sear until nice and brown, then turn over and sear on the opposite side (about 4-5 minutes per side. Once the chicken breasts are done, place on a sheet pan and into the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes to finish cooking.

In the meantime, your water should be boiling, so add the pasta.

Add the butter and garlic to the pot that contained the chicken and cook for a minute or two, max. Add the flour and combine to form a clumpy roux. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the flour for a couple minutes longer. Then, add the milk and whisk to dissolve the roux. Let the mixture come to a boil, whisking frequently to make sure there are no clumps. Once the mixture boils, add the parmesan cheese and allow it to melt before adding the frozen spinach and broccoli.

Once you've added the veggies, the mixture will thicken and cool almost instantly because of the drastic temperature change. Keep the pot at medium and allow the mixture to warm through and just barely bubble. When your pasta is done, drain it and add it to the spinach and broccoli sauce. Remove the chicken from the oven, slice the chicken and serve.



I decided to do a little experiment with this recipe and count the calories and fat grams that went into it. I didn't leave out anything to make it super healthy, but I didn't go crazy with heavy cream and ridiculous amounts of cheese either. In the end, with everything accounted for, the fat grams were at 80 and the calories were about 2880. Dividing this total meal into 4 portions renders a very filling serving size (a little light on the chicken and a little heavy on the pasta though) of about 20 grams of fat and 720 calories. I feel like the calories were about average, but I was a little shocked by the fat. Overall, the butter and oil (1 tbsp each) contributed 25 grams and the cheese contributed 24 grams itself! All in all though, it's a solid meal on it's own, chock full of veggies, carbs, and a lean protein, so I'm pretty okay with this meal, at least once in a while as a break from soups and stews. Speaking of which, next up will be my friend Jess's Moroccan Chicken Stew!

Treats

This week has been a week of stress, essay-writing, and hastily cobbled together meals. Case in point: I just finished up a soup consisting of vegetable broth, brussel sprouts, and green beans, thickened slightly with left-over mashed potatoes.

I'm not going to lie, it actually was pretty good. I love brussel sprouts in any form, and the mashed potato-thickened soup was creamy and full-bodied. But I digress.

I'm planning on cooking more this weekend and next week. Lately, I've been craving pasta, so I think some kind of chicken, spinach, broccoli alfredo bake is in order. Since casseroles tend not to keep as long as soups, I figure, by Friday at the latest, I'll be making a Moroccan Chicken and Lentil dish that can very easily be made vegetarian.

Right now though, I wanted to show off some fun food finds from this week.

More vanilla beans? Hell yes. I've been wanting to post this link for quite some time just so that it's easier for me to find in the future. Here's the product, 1/4 lb of Tahitian vanilla beans, excellent quality, arrived 3 days after I purchased them, vacuum-sealed and aromatic as all get out.



And here's the link (I know since it's an eBay store the site isn't as fancy as it could be, but trust me, 9 bucks for like 30 vanilla beans is totally worth it): Vanilla Products USA

Currently, I have vanilla beans in sugar and vanilla beans in vodka. Until I added more beans to my vodka batch it was getting quite dark. I figure in another month or two it will be the most amazing vanilla extract ever.

Next up, we have my favorite food in the world: eggs! Specifically we have more farm fresh eggs straight from my colleague's chicken's cloacae!



And finally, what I like to do with eggs when I really want to treat myself: get a lox and cream cheese bagel from Bagel Street Deli in uptown Athens, open-face it, and top it with scrambled eggs. Now that's what I call breakfast!

The Buttercream Gang

I decided to say "eff it" to no sweets for today. Not that I'm going to go crazy or anything, I just have that vanilla sugar cookie dough in the freezer, and it's too good not to use some.

I want a simple frosting for the cookies, so the natural answer is a quick vanilla buttercream. Rather than a traditional buttercream (made by beating hot egg whites with sugar, then mixing in soft butter), I'll make a quick version with confectionary sugar, butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract and the seeds from a vanilla bean (these are going to be some violently vanilla cookies).

I don't really have the time to fool around with decorations, so I'm thinking simple round or square cookies with frosting - maybe using fork tines or something to that effect to further design the cookies, but we'll see if the frosting can hold up.

Gratuitously Vanilla Cookies

I used a recipe of the vanilla sugar cookies only this time I had brown sugar and I added the delicious innards of a vanilla bean.

Frosting
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
2 -3 tbsp heavy cream

Mix the sugar and butter together on low speed in a stand mixer (or with a hand model) until well combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla, vanilla beans, and cream beating for 1 minute more. Add a little more cream if necessary to get to spreading consistency.



Gratuitously vanilla sugar cookie, meet chocolate milk.

Cooking Up is Hard to Do

At least it is right now. The quarter is winding down and the weather has made it difficult to cook. I'm trying to back down on my intake of sweets lately as well, so I've got some delicious vanilla sugar cookie dough just setting and waiting in my freezer to be enjoyed.

I did attempt, this last weekend, to make the BLT soup. Frankly, I need bacon. I began by slow roasting some garlic cloves in a couple tablespoons of bacon fat. I then removed the garlic and added some flour to make a roux. After that began cooking, I added onions and sauteed until they were soft and the roux was a nice toasty brown color.

After that I added a couple quarts of my mother's home-canned tomatoes as well as a bunch of kale. Oh yes, I also added the roasted garlic, chopped back in as well. Basically, the taste of bacon came out very subtly, overwhelmed by the roasted garlic and tomato. It's not a bad soup at all, in fact it's quite tasty, and I especially like the kale. However, it's certainly not a BLT soup. I think, if I ever make this again, the use of croutons will be required, crispy bacon will make an appearance, the garlic will be reduced, and in all likelihood I'll keep the kale.

I do have to say I love my greens. Specifically, I love them sauteed with a little garlic, salt, and pepper. In the mean time I'm at a loss for what to make and I'm not in the best position to get ingredients, so future posting may have to wait. I do see meatballs, or perhaps vegetarian meatballs, in my future - maybe spaghetti? maybe chili?

Updates

I have a few posts I really need to finish:

A delicious brunch this weekend (sadly without pictures :/)

Sugar cookies for my class tomorrow (because it's Valentine's day and, apparently, I teach elementary kids :P)

Cinnamon Rolls? I've really been wanting to make some lately - but time is a factor this weekend and they are definitely time consuming.

Then, of course, I need time to actually update/create these posts... but they will come. Also, this week or, perhaps, next weekend: BLT soup... yeah seriously.

Happy Birthday

As of today, my blog is 1 full year old!

I'm kind of excited that I've been able to keep up regular posts and keep this thing going for a full year. I guess my goal now is to keep it up. This is a project I started, more or less, for myself. I hoped to encourage some creative ideas and take leaps I may not have taken otherwise. There's a lot I've done poorly, a lot I've done well, and a lot I'm just surprised I did at all (beer ice cream much?!)

It's needless to say that I'm really glad I started this blog.



Here's to hoping that the best is yet to come.

Meat and Potatoes

The setting: My apartment when I'm in need of a break from research and writing my Master's Essay.

The potatoes: drizzled with olive oil, two cloves of smashed garlic, salt, and pepper. Roasted at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. Why stop there? I decided to mash them with butter and a little milk. Crispy, roasted, mashed potatoes? WIN.

The meat: a steak, a delicious steak.



The method: I found this over on the Ideas in Food blog. Basically you take a cast iron skillet, sprinkle on some salt, let it get hot (start smoking) then put in the steak, turn down the heat to medium and turn regularly. You get an even caramelized, salty crust on the steak. Let it rest for 10 minutes to keep it at its juiciest.

My method: no cast iron skillet so I used a regular saute pan with an incredibly light coating of oil, sprinkling of salt, and everything else.

I made a jus after the steak was done - reduced wine and beef broth. Finished with a pat of butter. Simple.



The steak was amazing, but it will be even better when I bring up my cast iron skillet after spring break.



Also, I need to take less crappy pictures. Either way, it was a great Friday night dinner. I may need veggies at some point though, so lentil and canellini soup this weekend.

Drowning in Vanilla

In the past, I've made vanilla extract to give as gifts to my extended family. The process is fairly simple: just let a few vanilla beans soak in some vodka/bourbon/frangelico* for about 6 months, shaking once a week or so. Over time the liquor will darken and smell strongly of vanilla. One large jug of booze = 3 - 4 vanilla beans.



This time though, I've got LOADS of vanilla beans (about 21). I've placed 18 in a glass container half-filled with vodka. This process keeps the beans plump. I should note that you can still use the beans that have been soaking in vodka. Simply pull one out, snip off an end, and the delicious vanilla beans come right out.



The remaining 3 vanilla beans have found their way into another jar filled with sugar that will, naturally, become vanilla sugar. I'm immensely excited about all of these vanilla beans. I think my first order of business is to make some crema di limoncello liquor and share some with my friends.



*I've personally tried vodka and bourbon. Vodka, in my opinion, is the best because it doesn't have such a strong flavor for the vanilla to compete against. My friend Mallory, the one who procured the vanilla beans, mentioned that her fiance (who has been to culinary school) highly recommends using frangelico.

New England Clam Chowder with Mung Beans

*You can totally make this without the Mung Beans*

This is my first attempt at a crockpot soup. It's pretty basic and straightforward. Naturally, the only crazy ingredients are clams and clam juice, heh.

Crockpot Clam Chowder with Mung Beans and Roasted Garlic

1 head of garlic
1 tsp + 1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2 tbsp flour
1 cup white wine

4-5 medium yukon gold potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

3 8oz cans clams
1 12oz jar clam juice

1 8oz can fat free evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Let's begin by roasting the garlic. Cut the top of the garlic off, exposing the tops of the cloves. Drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and place in a shallow baking dish. Add 1/2 cup water to the dish and bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until the garlic cloves are roasted, caramelized, and deliciously sweet.

Next, in a pan set over medium heat, drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil and let the pan and oil get hot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, sauteing until brown, about 20 minutes. Add the flour to the veggies and cook an additional 2-3 minutes to remove the floury taste. Whisk in the wine and let it come to a boil and thicken slightly. Transfer the contents of the pan to the pot of a crockpot or slow cooker. Add the roasted garlic and all of the rest ingredients except for the evaporated milk and cream. Stir or whisk to dissolve the roux and break apart the roasted garlic (you can also mash the garlic before adding it to the soup).




Cook on high for 3 hours or low for about 5-6 hours. Add the milk and cream during the last hour of cooking. It's hard to beat some delicious, crusty bread with this soup. Also, for the health factor we've got clams that are great for zinc and selenium, potatoes that provide potassium and a good complex carbohydrate to balance the protein in the milk and clams. Additionally, for being so rich, it's relatively low in fat (since 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 tbsp oil is really the only fat in the soup - about 60 grams for the entire pot which constitutes roughly 6-8 16 oz servings).



YUM!

Mung Bean and Farfalle Soup

I decided to splurge and get a giant bag of Mung Beans from Kroger. I've never really had them before, and I've certainly never cooked with them. However, they're very nutritious so naturally I wanted to give them a try.



Basically, the two main options seem to be sprouting the mung beans or cooking them. I've tried both - sprouting takes a couple days but produces sweet little sprouts. I combined these with some edamame, soy sauce, sambal, and garlic for a delicious, light salad.

Cooking them requires furious boiling in 2:1 water:bean ratio for 10 minutes followed by roughly 1 - 2 hours of simmering. According to the package, you shouldn't season the beans until after they've cooked for at least an hour. Basically, I got the beans almost cooked through before adding them to the soup I made. Really, the soup is pretty basic and open to interpretation - I imagine potatoes in lieu of pasta would be delicious, as would frozen peas or other vegetables.

Mung Bean and Farfalle Soup

1 cup, par-cooked mung beans with cooking water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced

1 qt vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups farfalle (I used Barilla pasta plus just for the extra protein/amino acid wonderfulness)
salt and pepper to taste

Add the oil to a medium sized pot set over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated through, add the onion, carrots, and celery. Saute for 10 - 15 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes, reducing the heat to medium to prevent burning.



Add the beans to the vegetables, then add vegetable broth. At this point, season with salt and pepper. Increase the temperature to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the farfalle and cook until the pasta is cooked through (typically about 10 minutes). Add a little more water or broth if the soup is too thick, but the quart of broth and reserved cooking water ended up being perfect for me.



There you have it - pretty clear and straightforward. Cooked mung beans have a texture similar to green lentils, but lack a little firmness in their bite, comparatively. I'll definitely be using them again, but I need to build on this soup to make it more substantial and full of veggies.

I think I'm getting in the mood for clam chowder. hmmm... Maybe clam chowder with mung beans?