Adventures in Cooking

Roobios-Smoked Pork Tacos with Plum Grapefruit Salsa

2012-01-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

This past month has been pretty crazy. I started a new position at work, which is going great, and have started jogging again after my several-month-long holiday break from any kind of physical labor. The combination of these two things has made me pretty tired once I get home from work, and it's also made me crave my one of my go-to comfort foods, tacos. But I didn't want to have just any kind of tacos to come home to, I wanted to have some that would brighten my day and really give me something to look forward to after my jogs. So, I looked around the McCormick Flavor Forecast and used their recipe for roobios-smoked sea bass and caramelized plums, but gave it a Mexican-spin. I also added some grapefruit to the salsa because Chef Mark Garcia kept mentioning grapefruits in the McCormick Flavor Forecast webinar and how they should be used more frequently, as one would use lemons or limes. The result was awesome. Smoky rich pork meat covered with a refreshingly sweet and spicy salsa.

Also, if you're worried about not having a smoker for this recipe, worry no more! McCormick explained how to create a little makeshift smoker in your own oven, which I have re-explained in this post. All you need is tin foil, a roasting pan, and a wire rack that can fit inside the roasting pan.

Ingredients:

Roobios Smoked Pork

4.5 lbs Pork shoulder

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon Sweet Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Teaspoons Roobios Tea

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

3 Tablespoons Roobios Tea

Plum Grapefruit Salsa

1 Jalepeno Pepper

1 Red Chili Pepper, such as a Fresno Pepper

1/3 Cup Water

2 Grapefruits, peeled and cut into roughly 1-inch cubes

2 Plums, pitted and cut into roughly 1-inch cubes

2 Tablespoons Cilantro, chopped

1 Tablespoon Grapefruit Zest

1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Taco Fixin's

Shredded Cabbage (optional)

Shredded Mexican Cheese (optional)

Flour or Corn Tortillas, taco-sized

First begin by making the smoked pork. In a large bowl, mix together the garlic cloves, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt, and 2 teaspoons of the roobios tea until well blended. Cut the pork shoulder into 2 evenly-sized pieces and then cut several holes into the flesh, about 2-3 inches deep. Place both pieces of pork shoulder in the marinade and rub the marinade into them, making sure to rub it down into the holes. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large roasting pan with tin foil and sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of roobios tea on the bottom. Place a wire rack in the pan and then place a tin foil boat/bowl on top of it. Place the pork shoulder pieces in the bowl. Now seal the roasting pan with tin foil, pressing tightly around the edges. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 3 hours or until the internal temperature of the pork is at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the pork shoulder is cooking, make the salsa. Remove and discard the seeds from the red chili and the jalapeno peppers. Place them in a blender or food processor with the water and blend until relatively smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into a medium sized bowl and add all of the other ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate until the pork is finished.

When the pork is done, allow it to cool for 30 minutes before cutting the meat away from the shoulder bone. Place the meat in a large bowl and "shred" it by pulling it apart with two forks in opposite directions.

Toast the tortillas on a hot salted pan for 30 seconds on each side. Place as much of the pork as you'd like on the taco and any taco fixin's you'd like. Spoon the salsa over the taco and serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Lemon Ginger Cheesecake

2012-01-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

In last week's post I mentioned how inspired I was by McCormick's 2012 Flavor Forecast and that there would be more fun and unique new recipes to come. Well, here is another one of the ideas that sprang to life after my participation in the Forecast. One of the flavor combinations that they discussed was ginger and coconut, which of course sounds amazing, but for some reason the taste combination of lemon and ginger popped into my head, and since I'd been craving cheesecake for a couple weeks, I decided to combine all of these marvelous ideas into one simple and flavorful dessert. I made the crust from scratch and put some ground ginger in it for a little bit of an extra gingery kick. The filling is no-bake, which I love because baking cheesecake can be tricky, and has candied ginger, grated ginger root, lemon juice, and lemon zest in it, plus cream cheese and cool whip. I especially loved the filling because the cool whip made it nice and light and fluffy, and there's just a pleasant hint of lemon and ginger, not at all overpowering or intrusive. I'm definitely making this again in the summer, if it tastes this great when it's chilly outside I can only imagine how wonderful and refreshing it would be on a hot sunny day.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 and 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Butter, cold and hard
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

Dried Beans

Cheesecake Filling

8 Ounces Cream Cheese, left at room temperature for 30 minutes to soften
8 Ounces Cool Whip
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Rind
1/2 Teaspoon Crystallized Ginger, crushed into small pieces
1/4 Teaspoon Fresh Grated Ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To make the crust, mix together the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cut the butter into roughly pea-sized pieces over the bowl. Then add the water to the bowl and knead the mixture with your hands until an evenly textured dough forms.

Roll out the dough until it is about 1 cm thick, then transfer it into a regular 8-inch pie pan. Place a single layer of dried beans on the bottom of the crust, DO NOT push them down into the crust, just gently place them on top of it. Leaving the beans in while you bake the crust keeps the crust from getting strange air pockets. Trim the edges of the crust and use a fork to create a cross-hatch pattern around the edges. Place the crust in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the center of the crust is cooked. Remove the pie from the oven and use a small spoon to gently roll the beans out of the crust. Allow the crust to cool completely.

While the crust is baking, make the filling. Mix together the cream cheese, cool whip, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the candied ginger, grated ginger, and 1/2 Teaspoon of the lemon rind until evenly distributed. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

Once the crust has cooled to room temperature, scoop the filling into the crust and smooth the top of it with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind for decoration. Place the entire cheesecake in the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least an hour before serving to help the filling solidify. Serve, and refrigerate any leftovers.

Blueberry Mole with Chicken

2012-01-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

This past week I was invited to participate in McCormick's Flavor Forecast for 2012. I took part in their webinar and watched as chef Mark Garcia went through the various ingredients and flavors that are going to be making a broader appearance within the culinary world this year. They also posted the 6 trends of the Flavor Forecast up on their website, along with some recipes that went with each one. They all looked and sounded delicious, but I was particularly intrigued by the Blueberry Cardamom Mexican Atole. The idea of blueberry and chocolate alone was enough to make my stomach start growling, but the physical appearance of the atole reminded me a lot of mole sauce, which is what inspired me to make this dish.

Mole is a Mexican sauce that is made from chilli peppers, broth, dark chocolate, and spices. I always love having Mole at Mexican restaurants, but I've never tried making it myself until today. I scoured the internet, looking at various Mole recipes, but they either seemed too complex to execute in a reasonable amount of time, or too simple to create the layered flavor of Mole sauce. So, in the end I picked the best parts of each one and added some of my own favorite ingredients to the mix and ended up with a pleasant surprise. Wohoo excellent Mole sauce! My only regret was not making a side of rice to serve with the dish so I had something in addition to the chicken to mop up the Mole sauce with. It was so much fun to make something new and creative, I have about three more recipes I've been tossing around in my head since the Flavor Forecast so you can expect to see some more unique and exciting creations soon! Serves six.

Ingredients:

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2 Dried Whole New Mexico Chilis, stems and seeds removed

2 Dried Whole Pasilla Chilis, stems and seeds removed

Vegetable Oil

3 Cups Cooked Rice (for serving)

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Cup Blueberries

2/3 Cup Water

1/2 of a White Onion, chopped

1.5 Ounces Dark Chocolate (the chocolate I used was 85% cacao), chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 Tablespoon Butter

2 Teaspoons Honey

3/4 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4-1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)

Pour the vegetable oil into a large flat frying pan until it is 1 cm deep. Heat the oil and fry the whole dried chilis in it, for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove the chilis with a pair of tongs and place them in a medium sized pot with the chicken broth and water.

Drain half of the oil from the frying pan, making sure to wipe off any oil that has dripped onto the bottom of the pan, and place the onions and garlic in the remaining oil and cook over medium-low flame until the onions are soft and transparent, about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Set aside.

Cook the chilis in the broth over medium heat for about 20 minutes. They should be nice and soft. Add 3/4 cup of the blueberries and continue cooking for another 10 minutes until the berries are soft and burst easily when pressed.

Pour the blueberry chili mixture into a blender along with the sauteed onions and garlic. Cover and blend at a high speed until pureed.

Pour the puree back into the medium-sized pot and add the honey, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, remaining blueberries, and 1/4 teaspoon of the cumin. Cook over low heat.

Melt the butter in a large and wide shallow pan. Rub the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cumin onto the chicken breasts and then fry them in the pan until cooked all the way through, about 8 minutes on each side. Make sure to cover the pan while the chicken is cooking to help the meat retain its moisture. When done, remove the chicken breasts from the pan and place on a serving platter.

Remove the Mole sauce from the heat. Add the dark chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted into the sauce. When serving, plate the chicken with a side of rice and drizzle the desired amount of Mole sauce over the dish.

Blood Orange Bundt Cake

2012-01-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

The end of winter is blood orange season here in California, and the farmer's markets and grocery stores are starting to show signs of this wonderful occurrence. I love the color of blood oranges, not really a "blood" color, but more of a deep, almost purpley, magenta. I picked some up at the market because I wanted to incorporate them into a dish I'm adding to the Gojee potluck. Gojee is having an actual potluck in New York city, but they're also creating a digital potluck for all us out of town bloggers to participate in too. It will be fun to see what everyone else makes, although I am kinda sad I won't be able to actually eat any of it through the screen. So, I decided to make a bundt cake with the blood oranges because cake seemed like a fitting item for a potluck. I also had some orange blossom water, (weird thing to have in the cupboard, I know, but Greeks use rose water and orange blossom water from time to time in desserts), which I decided to incorporate into the glaze. The cake came out wonderfully, very rich and moist, and the floral notes in the glaze paired well with the citrus in the cake. I had hoped it would come out pinkish inside, but alas it did not. When I make it again I think I might put a few drops of red food coloring in the batter to give it that fun, pink hue I was hoping for. If you're really digging the idea of a potluck, on Thursday January 26th you can take a peek at other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared for some inspiration. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojee potluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter.

Ingredients:

Blood Orange Bundt Cake

4 Blood Oranges

4 Eggs
3 Cups Flour

2 and 1/2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Coriander

Orange Blossom Glaze

1 and 3/4 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Tablespoons Hot Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Cut the oranges into quarters and remove the peel. Place the orange pieces in a blender with the heavy cream. Place the lid on the blender and blend at a high speed (my blender was set to 'liquify') for one minute until smooth. Turn blender off and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, olive oil, and butter until a coarse paste forms. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and mix until completely combined. Set it aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and coriander until well blended. Set aside.

Add 1/2 of the blood orange mixture to the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat until combined. Add the remaining half of the blood orange mixture and beat until combined. Finally, add the last half of the flour mixture and beat until combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased bundt cake pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bundt cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for about 8 minutes before attempting to remove the cake from the pan. Run a rubber spatula around the edges of the pan to gently loosen up the cake's grip on the pan, then place a plate on top of the bundt pan and, grasping both the pan and the plate on top of it, flip it over and set it down on a flat surface. Gently lift the bundt pan up and the cake should remain on the plate. Allow the cake to continue to cool on the plate while you prepare the glaze.

For the glaze, whisk together the hot milk, orange blossom water, and vanilla extract. Add the powdered sugar and mix until the glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the bundt cake and slice and serve immediately.

Fancy (But Not Really) Pizza Trio

2012-01-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

Figured I would start 2012 with a bang and do a triple post, but not just any kind of triple post, non non. This, my friends, is a TRIPLE PIZZA POST. Mmmmm pizza. Best way to start the new year if you ask me! This past week was very relaxing and exciting. I've been at my parents' house in Oregon since the 23rd and have spent my time here with my friends and family, and I also tried on wedding dresses for the first time with my Mom and Aunt Jan which was completely wonderful. I narrowed it down to two dresses, but they are just so different I feel like I should keep looking to try and find a happy medium between the two. I also looked at a couple different wedding locations and, even though the weather forecasters predicted snow for the day, me and my brother decided to drive over and take a look at a few places, and found one by Mt. Hood that was absolutely perfect. It dropped 10 degrees during the hour we were there, though, so we knew our luck with the rain was running out and gunned it back down to the valley before the snowfall started. Whew! Also, yesterday was my parents' last day at their restaurant, Foti's Greek Deli. They are finally retiring after 33 years of business. I worked there on the last day, it seemed fitting since I had spent so many summers and school breaks working behind the counter while I was growing up. Seeing my Mom and Dad closing up shop for the last time was exciting, because now they'll have time to visit me and spend more time with the family, but also sad because I felt like I was saying goodbye to a large part of my childhood. Very bittersweet. I am really looking forward to the New Year, though. Wedding planning will hopefully continue to be a blast and *fingers crossed* things on the job front should continue to improve on my end.

But back to the pizza; while I was home I wanted to make a nice dinner for my parents, and since my Dad loves Italian food, I figured pizza would be a great bet. But, wanting to try something new and fun, I decided to make the pizzas more...."interesting" than regular pizzas. The first was a Smoked Gouda Pizza with Italian Sausage, the second a Pesto Pizza with Coppa and Roma Tomatoes (Coppa is a cured meat, salami makes an easy substitute if there isn't any Coppa at your grocery store), and the third was a Blue Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Bacon, and Honeyed Pears. The overall favorite was the blue cheese pizza, but they all tasted great, and I'd highly recommend making any of them for a crowd-pleasing dinner. A bit of a forewarning, the pesto recipe in the pesto pizza makes about 3/4 cup of pesto, and you only really need 1/4 cup for the pizza so you will have some left over to spread on bagels or do whatever you'd like with. I also bought ready-made pizza dough from the bakers at the local organic grocery store, New Seasons, so in the ingredients I just listed the amount of pizza dough you need in ounces since I didn't make mine from scratch.

Ingredients:

Smoked Gouda Pizza with Italian Sausage

12 Ounces Pizza Dough

1/3 lb Smoked Gouda Cheese, grated

1/3 lb Italian Sausage, not in sausage casing

1/2 of a Small Red Onion, cut into slices

8 Ounces Plain Canned Tomato Sauce

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Oregano

1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

1 Teaspoon Fresh Basil, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Pesto Pizza with Coppa and Roma Tomatoes

12 Ounces Pizza Dough

1/3 lb. Mozzarella Cheese, cut into 1 cm thick slices

1 Small Roma Tomato, cut into 1 cm thick slices

6 Slices Dry Coppa, or any other cured meat such as salami

2 Ounces Fresh Basil Leaves

1 Garlic Clove

4 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, finely grated

1 Tablespoon Pine Nuts

1/4 Cup Walnuts

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Salt to taste

Blue Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Bacon, and Honeyed Pears

12 Ounces Pizza Dough

1/3 lb Auvergne Blue Cheese, or some other creamy and mild blue cheese

1 D'Anjou Pear, peeled, cored, and cut into slices no thicker than 1/2 an inch

2 Thick Slices of Bacon

1/4 Cup Honey

1 Yellow Onion, cut into slices

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Butter

1/4 Teaspoon Sugar

Pinch of Salt

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Smoked Gouda Pizza with Italian Sausage

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat the Italian sausage in a pan until just cooked, breaking it into pieces with a spatula as it is cooking. Set aside.

Heat the tomato sauce, olive oil, oregano, pepper, and basil in a saucepan until hot but not boiling, stirring every couple minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to your desired thickness and shape. Transfer the dough to a baking pan. Evenly spread the tomato sauce on the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch border on the dough for the crust.

Sprinkle 3/4 of the Gouda cheese over the sauce, then evenly disperse the sausage and onions on top of the Gouda. Sprinkle the remaining Gouda over the pizza.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden brown.

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Pesto Pizza with Coppa and Roma Tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the basil, olive oil, walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese in a food processor or blender and blend until a smooth puree forms. If you want the pesto to be thinner you can add more olive oil. Set aside.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to your desired thickness and shape. Transfer the dough to a baking pan. Evenly spread your desired amount of pesto sauce (about 1/4 cup) on the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch border on the dough for the crust. Save any remaining pesto for your own enjoyment.

Evenly disperse the mozzarella slices on top of the sauce, then put the Coppa slices on the mozzarella, and the tomato slices on top of the Coppa. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese over the pizza.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden brown.

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Blue Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Bacon, and Honeyed Pears

Fry the bacon in a pan until just cooked. Remove from heat and dice into 1/2-inch squares. Set aside.

Heat the honey and pear slices in a flat pan over medium heat. When the honey begins to boil, bring the heat down to low and allow it to continue to cook for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

Heat the onions and the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until the onions soften and turn slightly transparent, about 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Add the sugar, butter, and salt and stir. Lower the heat and allow to cook for about 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. If the onions begin to crisp and dry out, add a tablespoon or two of water to keep them soft. Be prepared though, when you add the water the pan will hiss and spatter. The onions are finished caramelizing when they turn a rich deep golden brown. Set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to your desired thickness and shape. Transfer the dough to a baking pan. Evenly disperse the honeyed pear sauce over the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch border on the dough for the crust. Spread 3/4 of the blue cheese crumbles on top of the pear sauce, then spread the bacon and caramelized onions on top of the cheese, and then sprinkle the remaining blue cheese crumbles over the bacon and onions.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden brown.

Baked Brie

2011-12-25T11:18:00.000-08:00

I only make baked brie once a year because it is so rich and.....definitely not heart healthy, but when I do make it it is always for Christmas and it is always a family favorite. Creamy brie baked with jam and brown sugar inside of puff pastry dough. In previous years I've usually made it with raspberry jam, but I heard on twitter that it tastes really great with apricot preserves, too, so that's what I tried this year and sweet Lord, were they right. The apricot goes great with the melted brie, and the brown sugar melts and finds its way to the bottom puff pastry crust and kind of caramelizes into it. Altogether a great appetizer, plus it's really simple to make too, but looks pretty fancy! Also, last week I hosted a giveaway of the Foti's Greek Deli Cookbook, and today I am announcing the winner. Drumroll please....

Congratulations Cooking Rookie!

I will be sending you an email shortly, hope you enjoy all of the great Greek recipes. And I hope that all of you out there have very merry Christmases, Hanukkahs, New Years, and what-have-yous!

Ingredients:

(1) 17.3 Ounce Package Puff Pastry Sheets (there are 2 sheets in one box), defrosted

(1) 8 to 9-Inch Wheel of Brie, about 2 lbs
1 Egg, whisked

1/2 Cup Apricot Preserves

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Scrape the excess white crust off of the brie, it doesn't have to be completely removed, just use a blunt knife to scrape off whatever comes off easily.

Cut the wheel in half horizontally. This is going to be difficult, but it it alright if it's not in one whole piece because it will melt together when you bake it, so feel free to hack off in chunks at a time if keeping the half in one piece is too difficult.

Place one sheet of puff pastry flat on a lightly floured surface, then place one of the halves of the wheel of brie on the center of the sheet. If you want, you can cut a small decorative shape out of two of the corners of the puff pastry sheet and set them aside for later.

Evenly spread the apricot preserves over the brie, then sprinkle the brown sugar over the preserves. Place the 2nd half of the brie on top of the brown sugar and preserves, creating a sort of brie layer cake.

Wrap the edges of the puff pastry sheet up over the brie as far as they will go without stretching too much. Then lay the 2nd sheet of puff pastry over the exposed brie, and then flip the wrapped brie over and wrap the puff pastry around the other side and press the sheets together.

Place the wrapped brie seam-side down on a greased baking sheet. Place the two decorative cut-outs on top of the wrapped brie and poke a hole in the puff pastry to let the air out. Lightly brush the puff pastry with the whisked egg. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Check on the brie every 5-10 minutes and poke holes in the dough if you notice air bubbles forming or the puff pastry swelling significantly.

Melomakarona (Syruped Pudding Cookies) & A Cookbook Giveaway

2011-12-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

Melomakarona are dry shortbread cookies that are soaked in syrup until they become bread pudding-like in texture when bitten into. They're traditional Greek cookies and they are always made around Christmas time. Having melomakarona is something that I always looked forward to as a kid and still do till this day. My mom usually makes them, but I won't be home until Christmas Eve this year and wanted to be able to enjoy them the whole week before Christmas, so this year I tried making them on my own for the very first time. The first batch didn't come out quite right because I put the cookies too close to each other so they all kind of baked into rectangles rather than ovals from touching each other. The second and third batches came out fine since I knew to give them at least 3 inches of space around each cookie. The taste was just how I remembered, sweet and honeyed, with a hint of cinnamon. But my favorite part about Melomakarona has always been the texture, soft and pudding-y. The cookie holds its form right up until you bite into it, and then it just falls to pieces and melts in your mouth. Absolutely wonderful. And in the holiday spirit, I'm giving away one copy of The Foti's Greek Deli Cookbook. The Foti's Greek Deli Cookbook is a collection of recipes my family has used over the years both at home and in their Southeast Portland restaurant. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below about your favorite holiday treat with your email address. For an extra entry, like Adventures in Cooking on Facebook. The winner will be announced on December 25th and contacted via email. I hope you all enjoy the cookies and have wonderful holidays!

Ingredients:

4 Cups Flour

1 and 1/2 Cups Olive Oil

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

1/3 Cup Ground Almonds

Juice From 1/2 of a Lemon

2 Tablespoons Spiced Rum

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

Syrup

2 Cups Sugar

1 and 1/3 Cups Water

1 Cup Honey

1 Stick Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Begin by making the cookies. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then add the olive oil and mix well.

Add the orange juice, lemon juice, rum, and vanilla extract and mix until completely blended.

In a separate bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients. Then slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter mixture, mixing well between additions until all of the dry ingredients have been added and a soft dough forms.

Take 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the dough and pat it between the palms of your hands to form a domed oval shape. Place the cookie on an ungreased cookie sheet, making sure to leave a 3 inch perimeter of space around each cookie as they will expand when baking.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies just begin to turn light gold and the tops are relatively firm when poked.

While the cookies are baking, make the syrup. Bring the sugar, water, honey, and cinnamon stick to a boil over medium-high heat. Then lower the heat and allow the syrup to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat and place it in the refrigerator on a hot plate to cool.

Once the cookies are removed from the oven, allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Once the syrup is chilled, pour it into a wide and shallow pan or bowl. Place the cookies in the syrup and allow them to soak for 10 minutes on each side. Then remove the cookies and place them on a wire rack to allow the excess syrup to drip off for about 10 minutes.

Place the syruped cookies on cupcake liners and sprinkle them with the ground almonds. Serve at room temperature. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Duck a l'Orange with Pomegranate and Persimmon

2011-12-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

The first time I had duck, it was love at first bite. I was having lunch at a Thai restaurant near my college campus and they had a duck curry on their specials menu. Wanting to try something new, I ordered it, and was completely blown away by what I had been missing for nineteen years. So tender and comforting, the wonderfully rich flavor of duck meat cannot be matched within the world of poultry, at least in my opinion! My family usually prepares turkey around the holidays, but we've all kind of gotten bored with the taste of it, and so I decided that this holiday season would be a good time to change our traditional Holiday meal to a bird I find much more rich and flavorful. I reached out to the great folks at D'Artagnan about making Duck a l'Orange, because I had never made it before and had no idea which breed of duck would be best for it. D'Artagnan was incredibly helpful and recommended the Pekin duck for this particular recipe as that breed retains moisture best when roasted. D'Artagnan was founded by Ariane Daguin, whose dad, Andre Daguin, is famous throughout France for his foie gras (duck liver). She followed her father's foosteps, but brought the duck industry over to the U.S. to provide this side of the globe with ecologically sound and humanely raised ducks, poultry, and other meats. I feel like meat tastes better when you know that it was raised in a kind and caring manner, maybe it's because my meat-eater's guilt complex is significantly reduced by the image of happy, flapping ducks quacking about in a lovely green field.

The duck meat went great with the sweet orange glaze and the tartness of the pomegranate. The persimmon I used was a wonderful addition as well, I got it at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and it was longer and redder than traditional persimmons, looking a bit like these and the top one here rather than like this. It has kind of a glaze-like texture naturally on its own and was a bit sweeter and juicer than regular persimmons, which makes it great for sauces (at least that's what the lady behind the stand told me...turns out she was right!). I think I might try pureeing it and making a syrup for pancakes another time, it was so tasty! So if you want to blow away your guests this holiday season and try something fun and new, I highly recommend using this recipe and getting some tasty Pekin duck from D'Artagnan. You won't regret it!

Ingredients:

Roast Duck

(1) Pekin Duck, about 5 lbs

1 Onion, chopped

1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary, cut into 4 pieces

1 Clove of Garlic, minced

1/2 of an Orange, cut into 4 slices

Pomegranate Kernels from 1/2 of a Pomegranate

1 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Dry White Wine

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

1/4 Teaspoon Thyme

Orange-Pomegranate Glaze with Candied Persimmon

1 Persimmon, cut into 1 cm thick slices

Juice from 2 and 1/2 Oranges

Juice from 1/2 of a Pomegranate, about 2 Tablespoons

1 Duck Neck

1/2 Cup Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Flour

1 Tablespoon Honey

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Tablespoon Brandy

1/2 Teaspoon Grated Orange Zest

Begin by roasting the duck. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper, cumin, and thyme. Set aside. Evenly distribute the chopped onions over the bottom of a casserole pan or roasting dish, reserving 1 tablespoon of the chopped onions in a separate medium-sized bowl. Add the sliced oranges, pomegranate kernels, minced garlic, and the fresh rosemary to the onions in the medium-sized bowl and toss lightly. Set aside.

Remove the innards from the duck and reserve the neck, discard the rest. Rub the duck inside and out with the olive oil, then rub it inside and out with the spice mixture. Place the duck in the pan on top of the chopped onions with the breast-side facing up. Stuff the duck with the pomegranate, orange slices, rosemary, garlic, and onion from the medium-sized bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of water around the duck over the onions. Place the duck in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Then remove the duck, lower the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, flip it over so it's back is facing up, pour another 1/2 cup of water and the 1/2 cup of wine around the duck over the onions, and place the pan back in the oven. Allow to roast for another 30 minutes.

Now you can begin making the sauce. Pour the water into a small pot and add the duck neck, bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook the neck for about 7 minutes on each side. Heat the sugar and vinegar together in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. They will begin to bubble a lot and turn a light caramel-color, which will take about 5 minutes. Once they do, add the orange juice, honey, salt, and pomegranate juice and whisk together until well blended. The mixture will hiss and might spatter a little when you add the liquids, so be prepared.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the persimmon slices. Allow the slices to steep and simmer in the syrup mixture for 15 minutes, taking care not to stir roughly or they may tear apart, and you want to keep them whole. Then, remove the duck neck from the small pot and discard it, but keep the small pot and it's juices.

Once the 30 minutes is up on the roasted duck, remove it from the oven, flip it over again so that the breast is facing up again, and ladle about 2/3 cup of juices from the pan into the small pot with the juices from the duck neck. Place the pan back in the oven and allow to duck to roast for another 30 to 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the duck is 170 degrees Fahrenheit and the juices run clear. Make sure to peek at the duck every 15 minutes or so to make sure it isn't over browning. If the tips of the wings begin to turn black but the duck itself is a nice golden brown but isn't quite done yet, take the pan out and cover it with tin foil, then place it back in the oven and cook until the above requirements are met.

While the duck is continuing to roast, gently remove the persimmons from the syrup and set them aside on a small plate. Remove the syrup from heat and set aside. Place the small pot with the duck juices over low heat and add the butter, stirring until it is melted. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Whisk in the flour until it is completely combined and the mixture has thickened.

Now, whisk the duck gravy from the small pot into the syrup in the medium sized pot. Add the orange zest and the brandy and continue whisking until everything is fluidly combined. Set aside.

Once the duck is done, carve it (I had never carved a duck before and found this instructional video helpful), and place the pieces on a serving platter. Serve the duck alongside the sauce and the candied persimmon slices.

When serving, place the cut of the duck on a plate, drizzle about 1/4 cup of the sauce over it, and place a persimmon slice on top for garnish.

Nutty Peanut Cranberry Truffles

2011-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I went to a Paleta event at founder Chef Kelly Boyer's home in Venice Beach. Paleta is an organic, sustainable, and gourmet meal delivery service that can make you food that's all-around healthy, or that meets specific dietary restrictions like gluten, dairy or nut allergies. There was beautiful food all over the place, so of course I tried a little of everything. And it was all completely fantastic. The dishes tasted great and were incredibly creative (black cod cooked with a red grape and shallot salsa, omg!!), but the best part was that I knew that what I was eating was healthy so I didn't feel guilty about over indulging a little, and I definitely over indlulged when it came to these little peanut butter-y truffles they had on the coffee table in the living room. They were just simple-looking little peanut-butter balls, but they had bits of other things mixed into them, which I think were little pieces of other types of nuts and dried fruits. They were amazing....so much so that I couldn't stop thinking about them for days afterwards. Alas, in an attempt to solve this mental hurdle, I decided I had to try and make them myself since my Paleta meal delivery wouldn't start for another week and I was getting desperate. Not even good ol' pb & j's were resolving this maddening craving. It had become a serious problem. So, I put together the ingredients that I thought would be healthy and tasty enough to recreate the magic of the truffles and voila! Here they are, tasty and adorable and much better for you than a regular truffle. They're not quite the same as I remember Paleta's, but I will just have to go back to the source for those! Thank you Paleta and Chef Kelly for the inspiration!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Almond Butter, salted
1 Cup Peanut Butter

3/4 Cup Peanut Flour

2/3 Cup Dried Cranberries, chopped

1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/3 Cup Oatmeal, blended until fine and powdery
2 Tablespoons Almond Milk (or regular milk)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 Packets Powdered Stevia (or 2 tablespoons sugar)

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Crush the walnuts with the back of a spoon until they have been broken into pea-sized pieces.

Mix together the peanut and almond butters until smooth and completely combined.

Add the peanut flour, oatmeal, milk, stevia, and vanilla extract and stir until a smooth dough forms. It will become very thick so you will eventually have to knead it with your hands.

Add the dried cranberries and walnuts and knead into the dough until they're evenly distributed.

Pour the powdered sugar onto a large plate and set it aside. Take roughly 1 tablespoon of the dough and roll it into a smooth ball in the palms of your hands. Then roll it in the powdered sugar until it has a very light coating of the sugar and place it on a separate serving dish. The powdered sugar coating will fade visibly, but the sweetness will remain so not to worry.

Repeat this process until all of the dough has been made into truffles. Place the plate of truffles in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to help them stiffen up a bit. Then, enjoy!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Pie

2011-12-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

This year I stayed in Southern California for Thanksgiving because plane tickets were just too darn expensive. $400 round trip to Portland and back? I can only afford to pay that fare once a year, and that's for Christmas. So, instead I went to my friend Ryan's family's Thanksgiving at his grandparents house. Jeremy has been going there for the past four years, and it was nice that I was able to come this year, too. We had a great time, the food was delicious and the company was wonderful. I decided to make a pie to contribute to the dessert table, and finally settled on blackberry cream cheese. I know cream cheese mixtures baked are usually referred to as cheesecake, but this is in a pie crust with pie filling, so to me it pretty much shouts "PIE!". I used the crust from my Buttermilk Blueberry Pie recipe because I loved that crust so much, but cut it down by about 1/4 because I made a lattice top instead of a full top, but if you want to make a full top for the pie you can feel free to use the larger recipe in that post. Also of note, this recipe is for a pie that is to be made in a springform cake pan, not a regular pie pan. If you want to make it in a regular pie pan, I would suggest cutting the entire recipe in half.

Blackberry Filling

4 Cups Blackberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 Cup Sugar
3 Tablespoon corn starch
3 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Cream Cheese Filling

8 Ounces Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Grated Lemon Peel
1 Teaspoon Corn Starch

Crust

1 Egg, whisked (to brush over the crust)

3 Cups Flour

1 Cup Butter, cold and hard

1/2 Cup Ice Water

2 and 1/4 Teaspoons Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

First make the crust. In a large bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into roughly pea-sized pieces over the bowl, allowing the butter pieces to fall into the dry ingredients. Pour the cold water into the bowl and mix the dough together with your hands, kneading until everything is completely blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until you roll it out later.

To make the cream cheese filling, place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.

To make the blackberry filling, mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl until they are evenly distributed, then add the blackberries, butter, and lemon juice and stir until the berries are coated in the sugary mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease and flour the inside of the cake pan. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out onto a well-floured surface, keeping it in a nice circular shape. Once it is about 1 cm thick, transfer it onto the cake pan and mold it into the sides of the pan, letting the extra crust hang off the sides.

Spread the cream cheese filling evenly in the bottom of the pie, then pour the blackberries on top. Trim off any extra crust, leaving about 2 inches of crust outside the filling. Fold the 2 inches of crust back over the top of the pie, as you would with a galette. Combine the trimmings into a ball and roll it out, then cut out any decorative shapes or lattice strips you want to put on the pie.

Arrange the cut-outs and lattice on top of the pie. You can put a few drops of water on the crust where you plan on placing a decorative cut-out to help secure it. Once everything is arranged, brush the exposed crust with the whisked egg. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the crust is a nice golden brown.

Carrot Cake

2011-11-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make; I used to despise carrot cake. Truly, utterly, and deeply. My carrot cake eating experiences had always been characteristically stringy, with the carrot pieces still too chewy, and the cake was always really dry. The cream cheese icing was also never cream-cheese-y enough for my taste. But that was before I had one little slice of carrot cake that turned my whole world upside down. Well, not really, but it WAS pretty darn tootin' good. It was while I was working NBC's press tour. Lunch was provided for us and so I went down the lunch buffet with my plate, a little bit of cheese here, some deli meats there, and then I came to the dessert selection at the end. I don't know what made me pick the carrot cake when I've always hated carrot cake, maybe it was because I was delirious from standing for the past 5 hours running a microphone back and forth between various members of the press in a giant ballroom, but I took a piece and sat down and started eating. It was wonderful; moist, soft, rich, and with the best cream cheese frosting I have ever had, hands down. I told Jeremy about it and he confided that carrot cake was his favorite cake of all, which kind of weirded me out. Not chocolate? Not yellow cake? Red velvet? Carrot? Really? But, like any loving girlfriend, I knew that on his birthday I would make the cake he wanted. So last week I scoured cookbooks and the internet, looking for nuances in various carrot cakes recipes that I wanted to combine into one ultimate carrot cake. Crushed pineapple sounded interesting, and I liked the idea of coconut, but hate shredded coconut baked into things (once again, the weird stringy texture), so I used coconut milk to add the coconut flavor instead. It came out perfect, incredibly moist and soft and full of that cinnamon brown sugar-y carrot cake flavor. The best carrot cake I've ever had, and Jeremy, too.

.....It was so good, in fact, that three days later Jeremy asked me to marry him. Yes, we are engaged! I couldn't be happier about it. We spent the weekend in San Francisco and he proposed at the end of the day in the pouring down rain by the seaside. We were completely alone on the pier at night and it was wonderfully romantic and sweet and perfect. So here's to carrot cake, and all the joy it brings.

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake

4 Eggs

2 and 1/2 Cups Shredded Carrots

Reserved Carrot Tops (optional for decoration)

2 and 1/3 Cups Flour

1 and 1/2 Cups White Granulated Sugar

1 Cup Canned Coconut Milk

3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Drained Crushed Pineapple

1/2 Cup Crushed Pecan Pieces

1/3 Cup Crushed Walnut Pieces

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

Use This Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

First, make the cream cheese frosting. Then place it in the refrigerator to help it harden a bit. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then cut (3) 8-inch circles out of parchment paper and place them in the bottoms of 3 well-greased 8-inch cake pans. Set them aside.

Mix together the dry ingredients, except the nuts, in a medium-sized bowl. Set it aside. Then mix together the oil and sugars in a large bowl until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add the coconut milk and vanilla extract and mix until blended. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until they are just combined. Stir in the shredded carrots, crushed pineapple, and nuts.

Evenly distribute the cake batter between the 3 cake pans and bake them in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes, then shake the pan slightly to loosen the grip of the cake. Allow the pans to cool for another 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans.

Layer and ice the cake, making sure to remove and dispose of the parchment paper. You can also garnish the top of the cake with the reserved carrot tops, if you want to. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers.

Raspberry Balsamic and Pecan Encrusted Rack of Lamb

2011-11-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

I come from a Greek background, so lamb is always a holiday staple at our family's dinner table. And because of this, I particularly love making lamb since it always reminds me of having meals at home with my family. It also helps that lamb tastes amazing pretty much anyway you season it. But there are some flavors that enhance the flavors of the meat more than others, and the Devo raspberry balsamic and freshly diced rosemary make quite the pairing with a rack of lamb. The raspberry balsamic has that traditional bitter tang, the one that comes with quality aged vinegar, but there's a sweet aftertaste that comes with the raspberries that I just absolutely love. This sweetness pairs perfectly with the rosemary, and the tanginess seeps into the lamb and makes it melt in your mouth. I also encrusted it with pecans because I love having a crunchy, nutty texture on the outside of racks of lamb. It just makes the meat feel that much more tender! The best part about this recipe, aside from how tasty it is, is how simple it is to make while looking pretty fancy. It's a good holiday main course for people who don't have a lot of time to prepare the food. The marinade can be prepared in the evening the day before, the lamb can soak in it overnight, and then it can be tossed into the oven for 40 minutes the next day.

Ingredients:

2 Racks French-Cut Lamb, about 8 bones per rack

1/3 Cup Crushed Pecans
1/4 Cup Devo Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Fresh Rosemary, finely chopped

1 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Trim the excess fat from the lamb. In a large plastic bag, mix together the vinegar, olive oil, and rosemary. Add the racks of lamb and allow them to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the lambs from the bag and rub them down with the salt and pepper. Then roll them in the crushed pecans. If they are having a hard time sticking, put some more of the marinade on them to give the pecans something to cling to. Place the racks of lab in a roasting pan and cover the tips of the bones in tin foil so that they do not char while cooking.

Cook for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 400 and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the lamb has an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve immediately.

Treacle Tart

2011-11-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

I first heard of treacle tarts through the Harry Potter series. In the books they mentioned that treacle tarts were Harry's favorite dessert, which I found intriguing because I had never heard of them before. Years later, I was reading about English desserts and pastries and came across them again. This time I did a bit more research and found out that the key ingredient to treacle tarts is something called "golden syrup", which is also known as light treacle and tastes kind of like liquid toffee with a butterscotch kick. There is also black treacle, which is similar to golden syrup in taste but has a slightly bitter flavor. It is pretty difficult to find in the United States, but I remembered an English bakery/grocery store in Santa Monica called Tudor House that I used to go to freshman year of college for meat pies (their meat pies are REALLY good), and figured that if anyone had golden syrup, they probably would. Well, I made my way over to Santa Monica last weekend and low and behold, there was an adorable golden tin canister of Lyle's Golden Syrup sitting dusty on the shelf. I bought it, brought it home, and set upon making one of the tastiest desserts I've had in years. It has the texture of pecan pie filling without the pecans, and has a lovely, lemony, carmely toffee flavor with a hint of ginger. I used ground ginger in this recipe, but if you had crystallized ginger I bet that would be really tasty too. I know finding golden syrup can be a bit of a pain, but trust me, it is worth it! I plan on making this for my family at Christmas time, it's going to my new holiday staple. This recipe is for a 9 x 9 inch tart pan, if you want to make it in a pie pan I would multiply the filling and crust recipes by 1.5.

Ingredients:

Filling

2 Egg Yolks

1 Cup Golden Syrup

2/3 Cup Plain Breadcrumbs
1/4 Cup Butter, melted

1 Tablespoon Milk
1 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Zest
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

Crust

1 and 1/3 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Butter

2 Tablespoons Water
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

First, prepare the crust. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then cut the butter into pea-sized pieces over the flour mixture, add the water, and mix together with your hands until a dough forms. If you have a food processor you can just combine all of the ingredients in the processor with a few pulses to make the dough. Line a 9 x 9 inch tart pan with the dough and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently warm up the golden syrup by placing the tin canister in a small pot of water, 2 inches high, over low heat for 5 minutes. Make sure the lid of the canister is open.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, ginger, and lemon zest until evenly distributed. Make a little well in the middle and add the egg yolks, golden syrup, lemon juice, butter, and milk. Mix the ingredients together until well blended.

Pour the treacle filling into the tart pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top of the treacle is just beginning to show a hint of browning in some spots. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Baklava Apples

2011-11-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I went over to the Santa Monica farmer's market to pick up some produce. I wasn't planning on getting any apples, but there were apple samples everywhere so of course I tried them all and ended up getting some. They are called Odin apples, and they're small and golden-red in color. Like, actually metallic gold looking on one side when they are under indoor light. So incredibly beautiful, AND the flavor is very sweet while maintaining perfect crispness in texture. They are also fairly small, about 3 inches in diameter. I decided to use them for a baking project I'd been thinking about, by putting a spin on one of my favorite desserts, baklava, and using thinly slices apples instead of filo dough. The cinnamon and butter flavors went perfectly with the apples and when they're topped with the honey syrup it's pretty fantastic. I like my apples to still have a bit of firmness to them after they've been baked, and the Odin apple definitely retained that. If you are a fan of mushier baked apples, you might want to try a different variety than the one I used here. Gala perhaps? Also, I had to cut my apples by hand so I could only get them 1 cm thick, but if you have a mandolin slicing device I bet you could get them reallllly thin and have a lot of fun with the layering. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

Baklava Apples

4 Odin Apples

1/3 Cup Crushed Pecans

1/3 Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Butter, melted

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

Toothpicks

Syrup

1/4 Cup Water

2 Tablespoons Honey

2 Tablespoons Sugar

First, make the syrup. Heat the water, honey, and sugar over high heat until the mixture boils. Lower the heat and allow the syrup to simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove the pot from the heat, and allow to cool for a few minutes before placing it in the refrigerator to chill.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the pecans, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves until evenly distributed. Set aside.

Peel and core the apples, then cut them into 1 cm thick slices, cutting horizontally across the apple so that they can be stacked on top of each other.

Brush the bottom layer of one of the apples with the melted butter and place it in a baking pan. Then sprinkle some of the sugar mixture on top of it. Then grab the next layer of the apple, butter it, set it on top of the base layer, and sprinkle some more of the sugar mixture on top of that slice. Continue to repeat this process until all of the apples have been assembled on the baking pan. Also, when you are finished creating an apple, make sure to stick through a toothpick on each side so that they don't fall apart when baking.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Once you remove it from the oven, place the apples on a serving tray and pour the chilled syrup over them. Serve immediately.

Broccoli, Chard, & Bean Soup

2011-10-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have been posting a lot of sweets and desserts lately, and while it would be nice to eat those all the time, I do actually eat pretty healthy the vast majority of the time. So, because of the approaching winter and the abundance of chard, I decided to post about one of my favorite comforting and healthy soup recipes. I love this soup because it has a nice and creamy texture from the beans, a bit of a crunch from the chard, and the wonderful combination of rosemary, Parmesan cheese, and broccoli. When you have a spoonful it tastes like you're eating a garden but in a good way, not in that terrible "cleanse" juice way that just tastes like grass and raw turnips. No, this is quite different, and much, much tastier. Sometimes I have a hard time eating soups as a main meal because I don't find them filling, but the high amount of protein you get from the beans really helps to make this a satiating meal. It just tastes so fresh and wholesome. Also, the recipe doesn't call for salt because the Parmesan cheese adds a good amount of saltiness to the dish, but some people, like my Dad, realllllly love salt, so taste it after you make it and feel free to sprinkle some more in there if you want.

Ingredients:

9 Chard Leaves, coarsley chopped
3 Heads Broccoli, cut into florets
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Yellow Onion, chopped
(1) 15 Ounce Can Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
2 and 3/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Fresh Rosemary, chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Salt (if neccessary)

Steam the broccoli florets for 5 minutes. If you don't have steamer tray to put inside a pot, you can always use a small metal strainer, which is what I did. Set the broccoli aside.

In a large pot, heat the garlic, onions, and rosemary in the olive oil until the onions are slightly transparent, stirring every minute or two for about 5 minutes. Add the beans and swiss chard and cover, cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and the pepper and bring the liquid to a boil, then cook the soup for about 7 minutes.

Remove the soup from heat, add the broccoli and Parmesan cheese and stir. Ladle the soup into a food processor or blender and blend it until a smooth puree forms, about 1 minute. Depending upon the size of your blender or food processor, you may need to do blend the soup in batches, like I did. Taste and add some salt, if necessary.

Serve hot with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and a decorative slice of chard stem.

Crab Cakes & A Special Request

2011-10-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

First off, a bit of a special request to you all. My Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes are a finalist in a Halloween recipe contest, and all you need to do to vote for them is go here, scroll to the bottom, and click the Facebook "like" button next to the title of my entry, (it is the first one on the list). The winner is determined by votes, so every vote is helpful!

My Theio (Uncle) Soulis back home in Oregon has a knack for crabbing, and since he and my Theia Anna have a beach house on the Oregon coast, he goes crab fishing from time to time. He knows I really love crab, so he will bring some over to my parents house every so often and they put it in the freezer for me so that when I come for a visit I will have some tasty Oregon crabmeat waiting for me. Well, that is exactly what happened last week, so on Thursday I decided to try something new and make some crab cakes. It is strange that I've never made them before, now that I think about it, normally I'd just eat the crab meat plain with a little lemon juice on it, which is of course delicious, but crab cakes are just so fun and combine so many great flavors, especially these ones. I used some Old Bay Seasoning I made, and included the recipe for it here, but you can also buy it pre-made at the grocery store in the spice isle if you don't feel like going through the trouble of making it yourself. The Old Bay Seasoning recipe makes about 3 Tablespoons of seasoning, and this recipe makes about 8 palm-sized crab cakes.

Ingredients:

Crab Cakes

1 and 1/2 Cups Crab Meat

7 Green Onions, chopped

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Parsley

1 Teaspoon Worchestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne
Oil for frying

Old Bay Seasoning

6 Bay Leaves, crushed

3 Whole Cloves

3 Whole Cardamom Pods

1 Tablespoon Caraway Seeds

1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns

1 Teaspoon Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds, whole or ground

1/4 Teaspoon Mace, whole or ground

1/4 Teaspoon Ground White Pepper

To make the old bay seasoning, place all of the seasoning ingredients in a coffee grinder and blend them until they form a smooth powdered spice. Set it aside.

To make the crab cakes, simply mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl until thoroughly blended and the ingredients are evenly distributed. Create the crab cakes by patting some of the crab mixture between the palms of your hand until a nice patty forms.

Heat some oil in a frying pan until a crumb of crab cake dropped into the oil starts bubbling and frying. Lower the heat to maintain the temperature and place as many of the crab cakes in the pan as you can while maintaining at least 1 inch of space between the crab cakes. Cook them for about 3 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown. Remove them with a metal of wood slotted spoon and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Serve immediately.

Apple Pie In A Can

2011-10-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I hosted my first giveaway, a wonderful decorating and baking tool set from McCormick, and this week I am announcing the winner, who is.....

Crystal Tripp!

Congratulations on your lovely new Halloween goodies! McCormick will be sending them to you shortly :) I am continuing to get further into the autumn season, and now that I am home in Oregon for a brief visit, I thought what better treat to make than apple pie, since Oregon, and my parent's backyard, has a plethora of apples. I have also seen a ton of cake-in-a-can recipes, so I decided to try and make pie in a can to see how it would work. Well, it was pretty much the same as making a normal pie, except this time I had to do math to calculate the measurements of the piece of dough I had to cut to fit into the can correctly, which involved calculating circumference, something I haven't done in years. But do NOT worry people, I have figured all of this out for you, and if you just follow my directions, you won't have to do any math at all. You're welcome. The pie of course tasted great, and eating it out of a can was pretty fun. The individual serving size is completely adorable, especially if you tie a decorative string or ribbon around it.

If you are concerned with BPA remnants in the interior of the can, scrub it well inside with an SOS pad or just use a glass jar, it is up to you as a free-thinking individual to make an informed decision.

Ingredients:

(4) 15 Ounce Cans, empty and cleaned with one lid removed

Filling

3 Apples, 1 Fuji & 2 Honeycrisp

8 Tablespoons Butter

4 Tablespoons Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Flour

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

Crust

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Semolina

4 Tablespoons Water

4 Tablespoons Milk

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

First make the crust. Mix together all of the dry ingredients, then cut up the butter into pea-size pieces over the dry ingredients. Then mix the butter, dry mixture, milk and water together with your hands until a thick, smooth dough forms. Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. To make the filling, first peel and core the apples. Then cut them into roughly 2-inch chunks and place them in a bowl filled with water, with the lemon juice mixed in. This will help keep them from browning. Set the bowl aside when you are finished cutting up the apples.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set it aside.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle on a very well-floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 4 rectangles measuring 10 inches by 6 inches.

Then cut 4 circles out of the remaining dough by using the open end of the cans as a cookie cutter.

Place a circle of dough at the bottom of each can, using a spoon to shift it around so that it is in the exact center. Now loosely wrap the dough around a well-floured rolling pin and then place it vertical, directly above a can, and allow the dough to slip off the rolling pin and into the can. Use a small spatula or wooden spoon to press the seams of the dough together. Cut off any excess dough that is hanging over the side, leaving enough around the edge to bunch up to make a crust.

Drain the apples and coat them in the sugar mixture. Evenly distribute them between the cans, and don't be afraid to let them mound out over the top because they will shrink down when they are baking. Then pour 1 tablespoon of the sweetened condensed milk over each can, and then cut up 2 tablespoons of butter over each can.

Cut the remaining dough into thin strips and then place them over the tops of the cans in a lattice pattern.

Place the cans in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove them and place tin foil over the tops of the cans to keep the crusts from burning, and place them back in the oven and bake for another 20 - 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft and tender. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting & A Giveaway

2011-10-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make some Halloween-themed cupcakes for the past few weeks and have been brainstorming about how to decorate them. Then, this past week, I was contacted by McCormick about hosting a giveaway of their "Tricks for Your Treats" goodie bag, which includes some of their decorating items along with a Halloween dessert decorating suggestion sheet. They also sent me a kit of my own, and once I went through it I decided to use one of their decorating tips and create some frosting pumpkins and ghosts with candy stems and sprinkle eyes. The cupcakes themselves are chocolate pumpkin-flavored with chocolate chips and some black food coloring to make them extra dark and eerie-looking. They tasted wonderful, and the frosting decorations were really easy to put together! To win your own McCormick "Tricks for Your Treats" kit, simply leave a comment below about your favorite aspect of Halloween and make sure to include your email address as well. One entry per person, and the drawing is only open to residents of the United States. The "Tricks for Your Treats" kit includes:

- McCormick Assorted Food Color, Black Food Color, and Pure Vanilla Extract
- Cupcake Liners
- Silicone Baking Sheet
- Le Creuset Spatula
- Mu Kitchen Oven Mitt
- Assorted Halloween Candy
- "Tricks for Your Treats" Halloween Decorating Ideas

The deadline to submit a comment is 12:00 midnight PST Saturday, October 15th. The winner will be announced Sunday, October 16th. Best of Luck! Recipe makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes

5 Eggs

2 and 3/4 Cups Flour

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

1 and 1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Cup Butter, softened

1 Cup Chocolate Chips

3/4 Cup Buttermilk

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

3 Teaspoons Baking Powder

2 and 1/2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 Teaspoons Black Food Coloring

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1 Teaspoon Chocolate Sprinkles

About 6 inches of Green Sour Candy String

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

Cream Cheese Frosting (Pumpkin Flavors Optional)

12 Ounces Cream Cheese

1/2 Cup Plus 5 Tablespoons Butter

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree (optional)

1 Tablespoon Grated Orange Rind (optional)

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract (optional)

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)

3 and 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar (optional)

5 Drops Yellow Food Coloring (optional)

5 Drops Red Food Coloring (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Stir until well blended and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated, and brown sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition and making sure the scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Then add the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, black food coloring, and vanilla and mix until well blended.

Begin to add the flour mixture to the cake batter, about 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition, until the two mixtures are completely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and then spoon the cake batter into cupcake liners that have been placed in a cupcake pan.

Once the cupcake liners have been filled, place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

To make the frosting, mix together the cream cheese and butter in a medium sized bowl until completely blended. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and mix well. Divide this mixture in half and place half of it in a small bowl. This will be the frosting used to make the ghosts.

If you want to make the pumpkins, add the pumpkin puree, orange rind, vanilla extract, cinnamon, yellow food coloring, red food coloring, and the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar to the remaining frosting mixture in the medium sized bowl and mix until completely blended.

To frost the cupcakes with a pumpkin, fill a frosting bag equipped with a 13 mm plain circle tip with the orange frosting and pump out the frosting straight down onto the cupcake, lifting up slowly so that the frosting pools out to the side in a plump circle. Once the pumpkin has reached a height of about 2 or 3 inches stop pumping the frosting and push down slightly and then pull straight up to limit the trail of the frosting.

Then take a toothpick and make lines down the side of the pumpkin to give it ridges. For the finishing touch, cut 1/2 inch long piece of the green sour string candy and stick it in the top center of the pumpkin to give it a stem.

To frost the cupcakes with a ghost, fill a frosting bag equipped with a 13 mm plain circle tip with the white frosting and pump out the frosting straight down onto the cupcake, lifting up slowly at first so that the frosting pools out to the side in a plump circle to give the ghost a base, then pull up faster while pumping and then pull up and away and stop pumping the frosting. Use 2 chocolate sprinkles to give the ghost eyes. Continue frosting until all of the cupcakes have been decorated. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers.

Sweet Potato Custard

2011-10-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

It rained last week here in Los Angeles. Sure it was only for a few minutes and it was still in the 70's and partly sunny while it was happening, but it still means the same thing. Fall has officially begun!!! As I have said in many previous posts, fall is my favorite season, and so when it comes I completely embrace all things autumn and harvest-related, like pumpkins, squash, and sweet potatoes. I had a bunch of egg yolks left over from a marshmallow frosting I'd made last weekend, and decided to use them for a custard, and to make it fall-y, I decided to add roasted sweet potatoes to the mix. I based this custard off of the one I made with blueberries and syrup a few months back, but actually baked this one in a large loaf pan that was already lined with syrup (like how flan is prepared) rather than pouring the chilled syrup over the hot custard the way Greeks do. I really liked it this way because the whole outside of the loaf had this nice and sweet syrupy crust on the outer layer, with the soft and gooey custard inside. Also, the entire loaf was eaten within 12 hours by four people, so it's highly recommended!

Ingredients:

6 Egg Yolks

1 Sweet Potato

2 Cups Milk

1 and 1/2 Cups Sugar

1/3 Cup Semolina

1/4 Cup Water

4 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 2-inch square cubes. Evenly distribute the sweet potatoes pieces across the top of a greased baking pan. Cut 2 tablespoons of the butter into pea-size pieces over the pan so that the butter is evenly spread out over the sweet potato cubes, like in the photograph. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes feel fairly soft when poked with a fork.

Place the sweet potatoes in a medium sized bowl and mash them with a potato masher until they form a rough paste. It is okay if there are some chunky parts left. Set the bowl aside.

In a medium sized pot, bring the water and 1 cup of the sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. After several minutes of boiling a thick and light brown syrup should form. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the syrup into an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan, moving the pan around so that all surfaces inside of the pan have a thin layer of syrup on them. Set the pan aside and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a separate large saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the semolina, cinnamon, cloves, salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Continue to heat the mixture until it becomes very hot but not boiling, then lower the heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until well blended. Then begin to add the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between additions, until 1/2 of the milk mixture has been added to the egg yolks. Then pour the egg yolk mixture into the milk mixture and stir until completely blended.

Continue to cook the mixture over low heat for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Then pour the custard into the loaf pan and place the pan in the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the custard develops a light golden brown crust on top. Serve warm or chilled.

Broiled Trout with Blood Orange Olive Oil & Shrimp Skewers

2011-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

The first time I had broiled trout was in Montana, and its rich and buttery flavor always stuck with me. I decided to try and make some on my own, but used Devo Blood Orange Olive Oil to add some light citrus notes. I also used garlic, shallots, and fresh sprigs of rosemary. I got the trout whole at my local whole foods market and also saw some shrimp skewers on display in the seafood case, so I picked up some of those as well and broiled them alongside the trout. This was my first time using an infused olive oil, and I was VERY pleased with the results. The blood orange olive oil was absolutely amazing and gave the ideal citrus twist to the trout and shrimp. Not too citrus-y where I felt like I was eating an orange with a side of fish, and not too light where I could barely taste the citrus. The blood orange olive oil and trout combination was the perfect combination of buttery fish and faintly sweet and citrus-y dressing. I read online that blood orange olive oil can also be used in desserts to give a bit of a blood orange flavor to cakes and other sweets, which is definitely something I am looking forward to trying. Just opening the bottle and smelling the beautiful whiff of blood orange is inspiring!

Ingredients:

10 Shrimp, 5 on 2 different skewers

2 Whole Trout, cleaned and cut open down the middle

2 Tablespoons Devo Blood Orange Olive Oil

4 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 Shallots, minced

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to broil. Drizzle the olive oil over the trout and shrimp skewers, making sure to rub the olive oil on the inside of the trout.

Do the same with the garlic, shallots, salt, and black pepper. Then stuff two of the rosemary sprigs into the cavity of each trout, wrap the trout and shrimp together in a tin foil pouch, and broil for 10 minutes, or until the shrimp is pink and the trout is flaky. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Maple Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

2011-09-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Remember when I told you to hold onto any leftover pumpkin puree you had? Well this is why. WHOOPIE PIES. I have actually never made whoopie pies before these, and was very intrigued by the consistency of the batter when I was scooping spoonfuls of it onto the baking sheet. Somewhere between cake batter and cookie dough, they are like moist little cake-cookies with frosting inside. I really can't think of anything I'd rather eat, especially when it combines pumpkin, maple, chocolate, and cream cheese. You don't see chocolate and pumpkin paired up together too often, and it is a real shame. The flavors go remarkably well together and are both relatively inexpensive ingredients to use. I would highly recommend making these for a Halloween party or Thanksgiving, as they are very fun to eat and also look super cute. Also, I used a mix of whole wheat and white flour for this recipe just to make it a bit healthier but without too much of a wheat-y taste, but feel free to use whichever of the two you prefer. Makes about 18 whoopie pies.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Maple Whoopie Pies

2 Eggs

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup White Flour

1 and 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Oil

1/3 Cup Maple Syrup

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Cloves

1/2 Teaspoon Allspice

1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

1 Egg White

2 and 2/3 Cups Powdered Sugar

8 Ounces Cream Cheese

4 Tablespoons Butter

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Begin by making the whoopie pies. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl mix together all of the liquid ingredients until well blended. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Scoop a tablespoon of the batter and place it onto a well-greased cookie sheet, making sure to place each tablespoon at least 3 inches away from the others, as the whoopie pies will spread out when they bake.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and allow the whoopie pies to cool for 20 minutes before attempting to remove them from the pan.

To make the filling, beat the egg white and vanilla extract together on high speed for 1 minute, or until the egg white mixture becomes slightly stiff and shiny. Add the cream cheese and butter and continue to beat until the mixture becomes relatively smooth. Add the powdered sugar and blend until thoroughly combined. Then add the cocoa powder and blend until the coloring is consistent throughout the filling. Set it aside.

To assemble the whoopie pies, simply place a teaspoon to a tablespoon (depending on your filling preference) of the filling onto the bottom side of one of the whoopie pies. Place another whoopie pie on top and voila, you made a complete whoopie pie! Continue to repeat this process until all of the whoopie pies have been assembled.

Chai Pumpkin Loaf

2011-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

The fall season is nearly here, and this makes me excited for two reasons. One, because I will be going home next month and will be able to see the bright and vibrant colors of the Oregon autumn, and two, because pumpkins are in season. Pumpkins are my absolute favorite vegetable; they're incredibly versatile and taste just as wonderful in a savory curry as they do in a sweet creamy pie. I recently acquired a lovely pumpkin patch loaf pan from Nordicware and have been patiently waiting for fall to come so that I could make some pumpkin bread. And as soon as September came around the corner, I took it out and made this amazing loaf. This is no normal pumpkin bread people; not only is it squash-y and cinnamon-y, but it has a little extra holiday flavor because of the addition of chai tea concentrate, and it's incredibly moist and rich thanks to the buttermilk. In all honesty, this is the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. It is also incredibly easy to make, as is evidenced by the extremely brief directions portion. I didn't add any nuts to it, but if you wanted to toss in some walnut pieces it would make a great addition. There will be another pumpkin recipe in not too long either, so make sure to save any pumpkin puree you have leftover...

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

1 and 3/4 Cups Flour

1 and 1/2 Cups Sugar

2/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/2 Cup Butter, melted
1/2 Cup Chai Tea Concentrate
1/4 Cup Buttermilk
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Cloves
1/8 Teaspoon Ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, blend together all of the ingredients with an electric mixer until completely combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes before attempting to remove the loaf from the pan. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers.

Date Bundt Cake with Honey Clove Glaze

2011-09-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to utilize the new bundt pan I got a few weeks ago, and decided to head over to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market yesterday morning to find some sweet produce to put in it. There were lots of peaches, berries, and oranges, but what caught my eye was a small booth with strange-looking fruits in various states of decomposition. They came in bunches like grapes, but looked like green olives. Some were fresh, and others were a beautiful, shiny, dark brown color. I recognized the dark brown ones as dates, and then realized that's what the green fruits were. There was a lady running the stand, so I started asking her about what fresh dates tasted like and she cut me a piece of one to try. I ate it and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and texture. They're firm, but not crunchy, and taste a lot like honey. I went ahead and bought a small bushel and brought it home to make this bundt. They're too firm to blend into the batter with a regular mixer, so I cut them in half, removed the seeds, and then placed them all in a blender with the buttermilk and blended them until a smooth puree had formed. I also added lots of cinnamon to the cake because I thought it would go well with the honey flavor. In the end, it came out perfect. Incredibly moist, and with a warm, almost banana-y flavor to the cake. I will have to use this recipe again to make a regular cake with frosting...

Ingredients:

Date Cake

14 Fresh Dates

4 Eggs

3 Cups Flour

2 and 1/2 Cups Sugar

3/4 Cup Buttermilk

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Butter

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Allspice

Honey Clove Glaze

1 and 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Tablespoons Hot Milk

2 Tablespoons Honey

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

Cut the dates in half and remove the seeds. Discard the seeds, and place the dates in a blender with the buttermilk. Place the lid on the blender and blend at a high speed (I set my blender to 'liquify') for one minute until smooth. Turn blender off and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, olive oil, and butter until a coarse paste forms. Add the eggs and mix until completely combined. Set it aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice until well blended.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add 1/2 of the date mixture and beat until combined. Add another third of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the remaining half of the date mixture and beat until combined. Finally, add the last third of the flour mixture and beat until combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased bundt cake pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bundt cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to remove the cake from the pan. Run a rubber spatula around the edges of the pan to gently loosen up the cake's grip on the pan, then place a plate on top of the bundt pan and, grasping both the pan and the plate on top of it, flip it over and set it down on a flat surface. Gently lift the bundt pan up and the cake should remain on the plate. Allow the cake to continue to cool on the plate while you prepare the glaze.

To prepare the glaze, whisk together the honey and hot milk so that the honey dissolves into the milk. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

Then add the powdered sugar and cloves and continue whisking until a relatively thick glaze forms.

Pour the glaze over the bundt cake and serve immediately.

Guava-Filled Shortbread Cookies

2011-09-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

While I was home me and my brother and my friend Melanie set aside an afternoon to walk around Portland and try some of the city's gourmet food trucks. When we were walking down Hawthorne on the east side of the city we made a pit stop in a Vietnamese boba shop so my brother could get a bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and I could get a boba. While I was waiting for my drink I noticed some plain-looking shortbread cookies that were laid out on a shelf. Melanie told me that they were filled with guava inside and were pretty common at Vietnamese delis and cafes. It was only $1 for a cookie, so I bought one to try it and my God, was I happy I did. The shortbread was incredibly rich and buttery, and the guava filling inside was just the right combination of sweet and fruity. I have been craving those cookies ever since then, and decided to try my hand at making some this weekend. The Brazilian supermarket down the street carries guava paste, so I bought a large brick of it because I wasn't sure how much I would need. Well, I have a lot left over, so I will probably be making another guava-related dessert sometime soon, or I might just end up making these again because they turned out that good. Just as tasty as I remember them! You can find guava paste online or at your local Mexican, South American, or South East Asian marketplace. Makes about a dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

1 Egg Yolk
15 Ounces Guava Paste

2 and 1/3 Cups Flour

1 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the guava paste into squares that are about ¾ inch thick and 2 and ½ inches wide. Set them aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. Add the flour, ½ cup at a time, mixing well between additions, until a relatively coarse dough forms.

Place some of the dough in the palm of one of your hands and flatten it. Place a slice of guava paste on top of the dough and then grab another handful of dough and compress it on top of the guava paste.

Flip the cookie back and forth between your palms, compressing the crumbly dough until the slice of guava paste is completely encased in the dough and the dough crumbs have solidified enough to form a relatively smooth dough casing.

Place the cookie on an ungreased cookie sheet and repeat this process until all of the dough or guava slices are used. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Mashed Butternut Squash

2011-08-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I made a variation of Greek mousaka using butternut squash instead of the traditional eggplant. I only used half of a butternut squash for the recipe, and wrapped the other half in plastic and placed it in the freezer to use later for some distant, unknown recipe. Well, my freezer has been pretty packed lately and that butternut squash was taking up quite a bit of space, so I took it out to thaw and began brainstorming about what to make with it. I've been craving mashed potatoes like crazy lately, but I'm also trying to stay away from empty, nutrient-less starches like potatoes, so I decided to try mashing up the butternut squash with some spices and butter and sour cream. I also added garlic, both fresh and powdered, since it goes surprisingly well with butternut squash. Butternut squash is a bit stringy in texture, even after you roast it, so after I mashed it by hand with my potato masher I then put it in my food processor to give it that really smooth and fluffy texture that's such a staple of good mashed potatoes. I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out, but when I tasted it all of my squash-related anxieties were put to rest. The sage, butter, garlic and squash went together wonderfully, and the sour cream really helped to give it that nice and fluffy texture. Definitely a tasty and healthy alternative to mashed potatoes. Makes about 3 Cups of mashed butternut squash.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a Butternut Squash

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1/3 Cup Fat Free Sour Cream

3 Tablespoons Butter

3/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Sage

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the butternut squash on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the squash is soft when poked with a fork but hasn't quite started to brown on the outside yet.

Remove the squash from the oven and scoop out the squash using an ice cream scooper. Place the squash flesh into a bowl and discard the empty skin once you have successfully carved all the squash from it.

Add the butter to the squash and mix with a potato masher until the butter has melted. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue mashing with the potato masher until the ingredients are completely combined. Scoop the mixture into a food processor and blend it until it becomes fluffy and smooth. Transfer to a bowl and serve immediately.

Pear Berry Galette

2011-08-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest things about being home in Oregon is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. The other day me and my brother, Pantelis, went berry picking in the West Union Gardens and got a pint of marionberries, a pint of gooseberries, and a half pint of raspberries for $1.80. Not only was it a great deal, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful, just rows and rows of fresh berries and rolling green hills in the distance. While I was home I also noticed that my parents' pear tree was looking a bit weighed down with fruit, so I, being the kind and thoughtful daughter that I am, decided to help them out and pick a few to include in this galette. This was my first time making a galette, but I was very pleased with the results. The crust is easier to assemble than one that has to be trickily laid into a pie pan, and it makes a great summer dessert (tastes amazing a la mode too!) The marionberries can be substituted with blackberries if you're unable to find any nearby. I wasn't able to bring my camera with me on my trip home, and only brought a few of my lenses, but my good friend Jade Sheldon let me borrow her Canon 5D Mark II, which was definitely an upgrade from my good ol' T2i. So a big thanks to Jade for letting me borrow her awesomely expensive camera and use it in messy food situations.

Ingredients:

Crust

3 1/2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Water

3 Teaspoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey

1 Teaspoon Salt

3/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

Filling

4 Pears

1 Pint Pink Gooseberries

1 Pint Marionberries or Blackberries

1/2 Pint Raspberries

1 Egg, whisked

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons plus 1 Teaspoon Cornstarch

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Butter

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Begin by making the crust. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then cut the butter into pea-sized pieces over the dry ingredients. Add the water and honey to the bowl and knead the dough together with your hands until all of the ingredients are well-blended together and there are no chunks of butter left in the dough. Shape the dough into a ball, cover, and refrigerate it.

Now you can make the filling. Fill a medium-sized bowl with water and add the lemon juice to the water. Peel the pears and cut them into 1/4 inch thick slices, making sure to cut out the cores. Place the slices in the lemon water as soon as you slice them, as this will help keep them from browning. Set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on a well-floured surface. Roll it out into a circular shape until it is about 1/3 inch thick. Transfer it onto a well-greased baking pan and set it aside.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large flat bowl until completely blended. Drain the pear slices and pat them dry with a paper towel. Add the pear slices, berries, and vanilla extract to the bowl and toss them in the dry ingredients until they are evenly coated in the sugary mixture. Pour the filling onto the middle of the crust, leaving at least 3 inches of crust-space around the filling.

Fold the edges up over the filling and tear off any extra crust so that the crust border is no more than 4 inches wide, (this way you can expose more of the pretty filling). Cut up the teaspoon of butter into pea-sized pieces and evenly distribute them over the exposed surface of the filling. Place the galette in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, then remove it and lightly brush some of the whisked egg over the exposed surfaces of the crust. Place the galette back in the oven and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the crust is a nice and shiny golden brown. Remove the galette from the oven and allow it to cool for 45 minutes before serving.

Lavender Toffee Blondies

2011-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a good week. Yesterday I flew out of Long Beach airport and into Portland, Oregon where I am going to be visiting my family for the next week. It is also why I wasn't able to post yesterday, since I kind of put off packing until that morning, and then had to go through the whole airport debacle, and then got home and chatted so much I ran out of time. But now I am all settled and comfortably enjoying a lazy Sunday with my laptop in front of me and the Hillsboro clouds above. Yes, it is cloudy here right now. I am kind of dissapointed, as August is one of my favorite months in Oregon because it is usually really nice and hot but still super green outside. Right now it feels like upper 60's, which is meh. BUT, my mom said it is supposed to get up into the 80's later on this week, which I am verrry excited about. I made these blondies a few weeks ago because I hadn't used any of my giant bag of dried lavender in a while and was really craving blondies, so I decided to put two and two together and make these. Toffee bits happened to be on sale at the supermarket that week too, so I picked some up and tossed them in, which ended up being a wise decision. Who knew lavender and toffee went so well together? They were quite tasty, and between me and Jeremy they pretty much only lasted 2 days. Makes about 9 blondies.

Ingredients:

1 Egg

1 and 1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon Flour

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Toffee Bits

1 Tablespoon Dried Lavender

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small saucepan heat the butter over medium heat until it is completely melted.

Add the lavender, lower the heat, and allow the mixture to steep for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the sugar in a large mixing bowl and add the melted butter and lavender and mix until well blended. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients, except the toffee bits. Set it aside.

Add the egg and vanilla extract to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, blending well between additions. Once the two are completely combined, stir in the toffee bits.

Pour the mixture into a well-greased 8 x 8 or 6 x 6 inch square baking pan, (I used an 8 x 8 inch pan, but you can use a 6 x 6 inch one, the blondies will just be a bit thicker). If you want, you can bake yours in a fringed tart pan like I did so that the edges of some of the blondies have a fun little fringe on them. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Citrus Swordfish with Cilantro Butter

2011-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

As you could probably tell from the frequency of my posts over the past several weeks, I am only going to be posting once a week now instead of twice a week because of my work schedule. I am still cooking away, but doing so on the weekends since by the time I get home from work on weekdays there usually isn't enough daylight left for me to take adequate photos. Work has been going really well, though. I worked NBC's press tour this past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday which was a blast. The days were long, but I learned a lot AND Aziz Ansari came up to me and my 3 other page friends at the after party and chatted with us for a minute, which basically made my entire year. He is sooooo adorable. Seriously, so incredibly charming and funny, and even cuter in real life than on TV! Ahhhh what a wonderful evening...but enough about my mildly obsessive psuedo-geeky Aziz-crush, let's get to this food business! I am a big seafood fan, but don't eat it as often as I could because of the fact that seafood is usually fairly expensive. However, the other week I was perusing Trader Joe's frozen foods section and came across 2 swordfish steaks for $4. My first reaction was "whaaaaaaa? Have swordfish steaks always been this cheap?!" And my immediate second reaction was "Who cares?! I'm buying it anyway!!" So I picked them up, brought them home, and tossed them in the refrigerator to defrost. I decided to place them in a citrus marinade and to create one of those herbed butters I keep seeing online. I used fresh cilantro for this one, since it pairs really well with lime and fish. I also broiled the fish in the oven, but wrapped the steaks in tin foil first so that they would stay nice and moist, since there's really nothing worse than a dry and depressing piece of fish....well, almost nothing. It turned out super well, the flavors blended together perfectly and the melted herbed cilantro butter tasted great over the hot steak. And best of all, it was really easy to make! The steaks take a bit of time to marinade, but making the marinade is very simple, as is the herbed butter.

Ingredients:

Citrus Swordfish

2 Swordfish Steaks

8 Limes

2 Lemons

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

2/3 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Regular Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Cilantro Butter

6 Tablespoons Butter, softened

2 Tablespoons Fresh Cilantro, minced

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper

Grate the zest off of 2 of the limes and set the zest aside. Juice all of the lemons and limes and place their juice in a medium-sized bowl. Add the olive oil, garlic, lime zest, lemon pepper, regular pepper, and salt and mix until well-blended.

Place the swordfish steaks in the marinade, cover, and refrigerate. Allow for marinade for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

While the swordfish is marinating, make the cilantro butter. In a small bowl, mash together the butter, cilantro, garlic powder, and lemon pepper with a fork until well blended.

Then lay out a 6 inch square of tin foil and scoop out the cilantro butter onto the center of one of the sides of the square. Then begin to roll the tin foil around the cilantro butter, and continue rolling until all of the tin foil has been rolled around the butter. Now grab the ends of the tin foil and twist them so that the butter is wrapped like a big piece of candy, as seen in the photo above. Place it in the refrigerator to solidify for one hour, then remove it, unwrap the tin foil, and place the log of cilantro butter on a small plate. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

When the swordfish is finished marinading, wrap each steak in tin foil and place 1 tablespoon of the marinade in the tin foil as well. Preheat the oven to broil. Place the wrapped steaks on a metal tray to catch any drippings and place the tray in the oven. Broil for 10 - 15 minutes, then remove the tray from the oven and unwrap the tin foil using heat-proof gloves. Place the steaks on a serving plate and serve with the cilantro butter.

Bread Pudding with Smoked Figs

2011-07-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

About two months ago I entered a food photography contest and won, which was exciting in and of itself, BUT what I was most excited about was the prize. A $250 gift certificate to Nordicware. YAY! Of course I got a multitude of bundt and cake pans, (even a pumpkin loaf one shaped like a pumpkin patch!), but one of the greatest kitchen accessories I ended up getting was their stovetop smoker. The first thing I tried smoking with it were the figs I used in this recipe. Jeremy wasn't a huge fan of the smoky and sweet combination, I think his exact words were "it's good, but it will take some getting used to".

I liked it straightaway, however, so you can choose to smoke the figs in this recipe if you happen to have a smoker on hand, but if you don't its not a big deal, just use them as they are. I also put little chunks of dulce de leche in the bread pudding, which were delicious and creamy and gooey, all of which are solid dessert qualities. I brought it into work the next day and everyone in the office liked it too, so it has been quality tested and approved. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 lb Loaf of French Bread

9 Fresh Black Mission Figs

1 and 1/2 Cups Whole Milk

1 and 2/3 Cups Heavy Cream

1/4 Cup Dulce de Leche

4 Eggs, whisked

2 Tablespoons Butter, melted

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon Allspice

Moist-smoke the figs with applewood chips for 10 minutes at 195 degrees Fahrenheit, then remove them from the smoker, cut off their stems, and cut them into fourths. Set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then cut up the french bread into roughly 2-inch cubes and set the pieces aside.

Blend together all of the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the spices and stir until completely combined. Add the bread pieces and allow them to soak in the mixture for 15 minutes.

Now add the dulce de leche to the bowl and spread it around on the bread pieces with the spatula. Then add the figs and stir until they are evenly distributed.

Scoop the mixture into a greased 8-inch springform cake pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top of the bread pudding is a deep golden brown.

Allow the bread pudding to cool for 20 minutes before attempting to remove the sides of the springform pan. Serve immediately.

Ramen with Poached Quail Eggs

2011-07-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday me and Jeremy went over to Koreatown to hunt down some octopus. Back home my Theio Soulis always has some on hand, and I've brought some down here before when I've gone home to visit, but I've never tried to find any around here in LA. After some thorough google-searching, I found that the Koreatown Galleria had some in their marketplace downstairs. So we hopped in the car and drove over. The market itself was pretty amazing, they had a huge number of fruits, vegetables, meat products, and various ingredients that I had never seen before. At the seafood counter they also had octopus prepackaged by the leg, which was GREAT. While I was staring at the wide array of seafood items, Jeremy was wandering around the store looking at all the other fun stuff. One of the things he found, which he brought over to me immediately because of my fondness for delicate/unique ingredients, was a box of 20 quail eggs for three dollars. THREE dollars!!!! I was pretty ecstatic, because I'd seen them before at farmers markets and they were always ridiculously overpriced, especially considering how little edible matter is in each egg. So, along with my octopus legs I also picked up the quail eggs and, after walking through the amazing ramen-filled food court, decided to try my hand at making a ramen from scratch. It's not specifically Korean, but more of a blend of various Asian ramen styles. I used Japanese red pepper, Thai fish cause, and Malaysian shrimp paste among other things to create the broth, which tasted wonderful. Just the right balance of spicy and savory. It smells amazing, too.

Ingredients:

15 Quail Eggs

4 Green Onions, chopped

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 Japanese Red Chili Pepper

1 Lime

2.8 Ounces Ramen Noodles, dried

.4 Ounces Dried Salted Seaweed (I got mine from Trader Joe's)

8 Cups of Water

1 Tablespoon Olive or Sesame Oil

2 Teaspoons Vinegar

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Hondashi Seasoning

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon Oyster Sauce

1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce

1/2 Teaspoon Shrimp Paste

1/4 to 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

Wash the pepper and remove the stem. Place the pepper in a food processor or blender with the tablespoon of oil and blend until a rough puree is created. Set it aside.

Heat 5 cups of the water in a large pot until warm but not boiling. Add the red pepper puree, garlic, Hondashi, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste, and ground ginger and stir until blended. Continue to heat the broth until it begins to boil, then lower the heat and allow it to cook at a simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, you can begin poaching the quail eggs. Take 10 of the quail eggs and set them aside for poaching, the remaining 5 will be whisked into the soup at a later point. Fill a small pot with about 3 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of vinegar. Bring to a boil. Crack 2 of the quail eggs over a slotted spoon and submerge the spoon and the quail eggs in the water, moving it around gently from side to side to get the egg whites to cover the yolks.

Once the eggs whites have just cooked enough to hold the yolks in place, about 2 minutes, remove them from the water and set them aside on a small plate. Repeat this process until all 10 of the quail eggs are poached.

Once the broth has cooked for 20 minutes, add the green onions and .3 ounces of the dried salted seaweed and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes. Then add the ramen noodles and cook according to the ramen's package directions, (my noodles took about 5 minutes to cook). Once the noodles are done, crack open the remaining 5 quail eggs and whisk them into the soup until they are completely cooked, about 30 seconds. Remove the soup from the heat and gently stir in the poached quail eggs, taking care not to break open the yolk. Serve the soup immediately, garnished with a slice of lime and a few slices of dried seaweed on the side.

Strawberry Banana Bread

2011-07-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been a bit since my last post, things have been slightly hectic lately with work and side projects. I'm really enjoying being a Page, it's the best job I've ever had by far. The first time I supervised a section of The Tonight Show audience by myself someone in my section threw up during Justin Timberlake's interview which was....stressful. BUT, I figure that that's probably the worst thing that could possibly happen, so now that I've gotten that over with I'm pretty much good to go.

Back to the food, I made this banana bread a few weeks ago, simply because I was craving banana bread and happened to have some extra strawberries on hand. It tasted wonderful and was really moist, the flavor from the strawberries kind of leaks into the bread when you cook it, so there's a nice strawberry tang as well. Plus, it looks really pretty when you cut into it and it appears as though you've put waaaaay more effort into the preparation than you actually have. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 Slightly Overripe Bananas

10 Strawberries

2 Eggs

2 and 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 Cup Regular Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Honey

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mash the bananas together in a medium sized bowl using a potato masher. Set the bowl aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Add all of the liquid ingredients, including the eggs and mashed bananas, and mix until until well-blended. Set them aside.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl and then stir them into the banana mixture until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased small loaf pan, about 9 x 5 inches, and place 2 rows of 5 strawberries on top of the dough. Press them in with your finger until they are covered by the dough, but aren't touching the bottom of the pan. Ideally, you want the strawberries to float in the middle of the loaf so that when people cut into the loaf the strawberries are a nice little surprise.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, or until golden brown and a knife inserted into the loaf comes out fairly clean. Allow the loaf to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Seafood Paella

2011-07-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been craving a nice, hot, spiced rice dish. I thought long and hard about what to make, and remembered how much I loved paella, and how long it's been since I've tasted it, (I haven't had paella since I went backpacking through Spain in 2007!) I had it twice there, the first time was at a touristy restaurant and it was terrible because the rice wasn't cooked all the way through, which pretty much ruins the dish. The second time, however, was at a small, inconspicuous cafe/restaurant in Valencia, and it was amazing. Richly seasoned and cooked to perfection.

Paella is traditionally made with vegetables, rice, meat and/or seafood, smoked paprika, chorizo sausage, and saffron. The chorizo sausage typically used in paella is different than Mexican chorizo, it is a dried sausage much like salami, rather than the raw Mexican chorizo sausage that requires additional cooking. Much to my chagrin, I was unable to find Spanish chorizo sausage to make this dish, but I figure that most people probably won't be able to find any either, so I made it with a tasty easy-to-find Italian salami and added a little extra smoked paprika to make up for the lack of chorizo. It is particularly important to use smoked paprika and not regular paprika, as the smoked paprika has a distinct and intense flavor. Think of the difference in taste between smoked salmon and plain salmon. Miles apart. It is also key to use saffron, which is the signature spice of the dish. Unfortunately, saffron is really expensive, BUT, I looked around and found that the best deal for it was at Trader Joe's, where you can buy a small bottle for $6, which is much less than the $14 bottles that were available at other grocery stores. I also tossed in some miniature heirloom tomatoes to give it an extra punch of color and acidity. It came out looking wonderfully, and tasted amazing, very rich and full of flavor. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

Stock

2 Tomatoes, pureed

6 Cloves Garlic, minced

(2) 6.5 Ounce Cans of Clams, including the liquid from the can

4 Ounces Green Beans

1/2 lb. Shrimp, cleaned and deveined

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste

1/2 Teaspoon Parsley

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

Water

Paella

1 Yellow Onion, diced

2 Medium Tomatoes, diced

4 Whole Cloves Garlic

12 Ounces Miniature Heirloom Tomatoes

8 Ounces Salami

1 and 1/2 Cups Rice

1/2 Cup Chopped Carrots

1/3 Cup Peas

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons Smoked Paprika

1/4 Teaspoon Saffron

Begin by making the stock. Heat the garlic and olive oil over in a large stock pot over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and 3 to 3 and 1/2 cups of water. Lower the heat to a simmer and allow the stock to cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Once the stock is finished, you can begin making the paella. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat the olive oil, garlic, and onions over medium heat in a large dutch oven or paella pan for about 3 minutes.

Add the salami, peas, carrots, and diced tomatoes and continue cooking for another five minutes, stirring every minute. Add the stock, paprika, and saffron and mix well. Allow the mixture to cook for 10 minutes. Add the miniature heirloom tomatoes and the rice and allow the mixture to cook, uncovered, until the rice is done and most of the standing liquid has either evaporated or been absorbed by the rice, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove the pan from the stove top and place it in the oven. Bake it for 8 to 10 minutes, then remove it and serve immediately.

Buttermilk Blueberry Pie

2011-06-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am going to be heading up to Lake Tahoe to visit my friend Kate and her family. I always love going to Lake Tahoe because Kate and her family are the nicest people, and we always end up doing something fun in the beautiful Tahoe scenery. Last summer we went horseback riding and drove around the lake on a boat, and this past winter we all went skiing in the enourmous and fluffy mounds of snow. This year I don't know what out activities will entail exactly, but I know it will be fun and relaxing and that my friend Sarah will probably make bananas foster like she does on every trip, which is really all any of us needs. But before I headed out on the road, I decided to make a Fourth of July-related recipe to post before I leave, and here it is! I've always liked blueberry pies, (like is an understatement), but have never tried to make one myself until now. Since I am kind of obsessed with blueberries, I decided to make it in a springform cake pan so that I could make it ridiculously deep and fit as many blueberries as humanly possible. I also baked it with a buttermilk custard, which went quite well with the berries. I love cutting fun patterns into the tops of pies, and since it is near the anniversary of the founding of our great nation, I used star cookie cutters to create a nice "spangled banner" design on the top crust. It doesn't really look like the flag, but there are stars on it so it's kinda close. The pie came out looking really lovely, I think I will make all of my pies in cake pans from now on so I can really pack in the filling. I hope you all have a lovely Fourth with your friends and families and eat a ton of good food. I know I will!

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust

4 Cups Flour

1 and 1/3 Cups Butter, cold and hard

2/3 Cup Ice Water

3 Teaspoons Sugar

1 and 1/4 Teaspoons Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

Filling

4 Eggs, whisked

33 Ounces Bluberries

1 and 1/2 Cups Buttermilk

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Cornstarch

1/4 Cup Flour

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Grated Lemon Rind

1 Tablespoon Flour

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

First, make the crust. In a large bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into roughly 1 inch size pieces over the bowl, allowing the butter pieces to fall into the dry ingredients. Pour the cold water into the bowl and mix the dough together with your hands, kneading until everything is completely blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until you roll it out.

Now begin making the filling. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the eggs and mix until blended, then add the buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix until completely combined. Stir in the grated lemon rind and blueberries. Set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease and flour the inside of the cake pan. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and seperate it into two pieces, one that is 2/3rds of the total dough and one that is 1/3 of the total dough. The bigger ball of dough will be the bottom crust and the smaller ball of dough will be the top. Roll out the big ball of dough onto a well-floured surface, keeping it in a nice circular shape. Once it is about 1 cm thick, transfer it onto the cake pan and mold it into the sides of the pan, letting the extra crust hang off the sides.

Roll out the small ball of dough, keeping it in a circular shape. Once it is about 1 cm thick, take a star cookie cutter and cut six stars out of the pie, one in the exact center and five around the center star. Pour the filling into the pie and then place the starred crust on top. Use your thumbs to press the edges of the crust together and cut off any excess crust. After the edges of the crusts are secured, lift them up a bit so that they don't hang down over the edge too much, otherwise when the pie is done and you unhinge the cake pan, the crusts will break off when the sides of the pan expand.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the pie is golden brown. If the crust begins to brown too quickly, remove the pie from the oven momentarily, put tin foil over the edges of the crust, and place the pie back in the oven until it is done cooking. Allow the pie to cool for at least an hour, or until it reaches room temperature. Then remove the sides of the springform cake pan and serve.

Mousaka with Butternut Squash and Sweet Potatoes

2011-06-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty hectic for me lately with the Page program, but this week my schedule is beginning to slow down again which is giving me more time to catch up on posts. Yay! I was pretty nervous before I started the program two weeks ago, so I decided to make one of my favorite comfort foods, which is mousaka. Mousaka is kind of like a Greek lasagna, which is traditionally made with layered eggplants, potatoes, ground lamb and cream sauce, and baked in the oven. For this version, however, I decided to use butternut squash and sweet potatoes to really emphasize the creaminess of the dish and give it a bit of a mildly sweet flavor to, you know, make it extra-comforting. So I put this dish together, not entirely sure of whether it would work out or not. In the end, of course, it came out wonderfully, otherwise I wouldn't be posting it here to share with you all. Yes, there are recipes and photos that have been locked away in the archives because they failed, miserably. Like my feta cheese attempt, but we will not go into that now... Ahem. Anyway, the sage went suuuper well with the butter and squash and sweet potatoes and nice rich lamb meat. Something about the fat in lamb just tastes particularly wonderful. I know it's not all that good for you, but I feel that if I make up for it by adding healthy vegetables to a dish, a little meat fat won't do me too much harm.

Mmmmmmm lamb.

Enjoy!

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Mousaka

1 lb Ground Lamb

1/2 of a Butternut Squash

2 Sweet Potatoes

2 Cloves of Garlic, minces

1 Medium Yellow Onion, diced

1/2 Cup Grated Mizithra or Romano Cheese

1/3 Cup Butter

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

3 Tablespoons Water

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Rubbed Sage

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Bechamel Sauce

3 Egg Yolks, whisked

3 Cups Whole Milk

1/3 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Cornstarch

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Peel the butternut squash and sweet potatoes and cut them into 1/4 inch thick slices. Sprinkle some salt on each side of the slices and set them aside on a plate.

Mix the ground lamb and the minced garlic together in a large frying pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes, breaking apart the meat with a large spoon or spatula as it cooks. Add the onions, butter, tomato and 1/4 teaspoon of the ground sage and mix well. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the lamb is browned all over. Add the tomato paste, water, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Mix well, lower the heat, and allow to simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the salt off of the sweet potato and squash slices and heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a wide and shallow pan. Cook each side of the sliced vegetables slightly, frying for about 3 minutes on each side. Set them aside on a plate.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a medium sized pan over low heat. Add the cornstarch to the butter and mix well until it forms a paste. Add the milk, 1/2 cup at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in the seasonings and allow to cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Place the whisked egg yolks in a small bowl and add 1/2 cup of the bechamel sauce to the bowl, whisking constantly. Add another 1/2 cup of the bechamel sauce to the bowl and mix well. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the pan and whisk until completely blended. Raise the heat to medium and continue cooking for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens to a gravy-like consistency, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

Once the lamb is done simmering and all of the vegetable slices have been browned, you can begin layering them in a large and well-greased casserole pan measuring about 9 x 13 inches. First sprinkle some of the grated cheese on the bottom of the pan as well as a little bit of pepper and some ground sage. Then create a single layer of butternut squash slices and sprinkle more cheese and ground sage on top. Then create a single layer of sweet potatoes and do the same. Repeat this process one more time so you have 2 alternating layers of butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Pour the lamb mixture over the vegetable layers, then create another layer of butternut squash and more grated cheese and ground sage, and another layer of sweet potatoes and more grated cheese and ground sage. Pour the bechamel sauce over the final sweet potatoes layer and sprinkle more cheese on top. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the top of the bechamel sauce begins to brown. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Cornbread Cupcakes with Honey Frosting

2011-06-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I am kind of obsessed with cupcakes. I think I just really like the idea of a mobile form of cake that I can walk around with and enjoy on the go, without having to sit down at a table with a plate and fork. And the fact that they are ultra adorable is also a contributing factor. I decided to make cornbread cupcakes because I have a friend from the south who had mentioned that the secret to amazing cornbread is using creamed corn, so I decided to try it out here with this recipe. After having made a nice little batch of them, I came to the conclusion that it is 100% true. The little sweet pieces of corn in the cupcakes are fantastic, and the honey frosting goes perfectly with the corn, especially since honey and butter and the two best toppings for cornbread in general.

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cornbread Cupcakes

(1) 14.75 Ounce Can Creamed Corn

1 and 1/4 Cups Corn Meal

3/4 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 Cup Flour

1/3 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Whipping Cream (liquid, not the ready made kind)

4 Tablespoons Butter

2 and 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Honey Frosting

1 and 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and set it aside. Then mix all of the wet ingredients together in a large bowl until they are thoroughly combined.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just blended.

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and then pour the cornbread mixture into the liners until they are each about 2/3rds full. Do not fill them higher than this, otherwise when they rise they will not stay firm and grow taller, but instead the batter will just spill over the sides and make a mess. You can also use stand-alone cupcake liners like I did and just place them on a regular baking sheet.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the cupcakes are baking prepare the frosting. Mix together the butter and honey until completely combined. Add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth. Set aside.

When the cupcakes are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

To frost them, simply spread about 1 tablespoon of the frosting over each cupcake. Enjoy!

Chilled Avocado Soup

2011-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

This month I participated in Food Buzz's Tastemaker Opt-In with California Avocadoes. They sent me a box of avocados and a couple cute little magnets, which I was particularly excited about because my home made magnets keep breaking. This does not reflect poorly on my crafting abilities, but on the quality of the glue I used to make them. (Boooo krazy glue!) It has been kind of warm lately here in southern California so I decided to make a chilled soup. I'd never made a chilled soup before, and I hadn't liked any of the chilled soups I'd tasted in the past, so this was a bit of a risky dish for me. After making it and eating it, I did like the flavors, but something about a cold bowl of soup still put me off. Soooo I made tacos and put the avocado soup on them as a topping, which was wonderful. If you like cold soups it will be fine as is, the flavor is great! There is just something about a cold bowl of soup that depresses my stomach. But, when put on a tasty Mexican dish, it somehow becomes acceptable. Don't ask me how or why this happens, just one of the many unsolved mysteries of the universe.

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

4 California Avocados

4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

2 White Chili Peppers

1 Anaheim Pepper

Juice from 1 Lime

3 and 1/3 Cups Chicken Broth, chilled

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley, plus another few sprigs for garnish

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Chipotle Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

Roast the chili pepper over an open flame for about 1 minute on each side, holding them 3-4 inches away from the flame and rotating them back and forth over the flamer so that they do not become burned on one side. Cut the peppers into 3 inch chunks and set them aside.

Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and then remove the avocado pulp and place it in a bowl.

Now comes the easy part. Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until a puree forms. You may need to do this in 2 batches depending on the size of your blender or food processor. Pour the puree into bowls and garnish with a sprig of fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

If you have leftovers, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and then press down on the plastic wrap so that it touches the surface of the avocado soup. Avocados only brown when they are exposed to air, and if they are pressed against the plastic there is nowhere for the air to be. Ta dah!

Roast Chicken with Vegetables

2011-06-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am going to be honest with you. This is the best roast chicken I have ever had, and my Mom made a pretty awesome roast chicken growing up. But this just takes the cake. Sorry, Mom. I think what did it was the sweet potatoes, their sweetness seemed to ooze into everything in the pan, which went amazingly well with the caramelized flavor of the garlic cloves. Did I not mentions there are garlic cloves? There are a few in here....about 22 of them. Yes, it does sound like a ton of garlic, but after being roasted for a certain amount of time the intense, almost spicy, raw garlic taste fades away and reveals a sweet and soft caramelized flavor. Super addicting. I made a healthy-ish stuffing for the bird too using whole wheat bread, pine nuts, and some other less healthy things like butter and wine. The vegetables in here tasted fantastic, and the chicken cooked perfectly but a little faster than normal. I think it may have been because I cooked it in a metal pan and not a glass one, but I am not entirely sure.....suspicious. Anywho, it was delicious. Jeremy even said it was the best brussel sprout he had ever had. Not the roast chicken, but the brussel sprouts. There are carrots in it too! And shallots! So many nutrients!!!

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Roast Chicken & Vegetables

1 Whole Chicken, about 5 lbs, innards removed and discarded

12 Ounces Brussel Sprouts

6 Carrots, cut into roughly 2 inch pieces

2 Heads of Garlic, about 22 cloves

2 Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into roughly 2 inch chunks

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1/3 Cup Flavorful Red Wine, Syrah is a good choice

1/3 Cup Plus 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Salt

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Dried Thyme

1 Teaspoon Pepper

Water

Pine Nut Stuffing

3 Slices Whole Wheat Bread, cut into 1 inch squares

2 Shallots, diced

2 Ounces Pine Nuts, about 1/3 cup

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth

2 Tablespoons Butter, melted

1 Teaspoon Red Wine

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme

Begin by preparing the vegetables. Place the butter and 1/3 cup of the olive oil in a large and deep pan over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the garlic and mix so that it is covered in the oil. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become soft. Add the carrots, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts and stir so that they are mostly coated in the oil and allow them to cook for 5 minutes, stirring once every minute. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper and thyme. Divide the mixture in half and set aside. Add the chicken broth, red wine, heavy cream, and half of the spice mixture to the vegetables and stir until the spices are evenly distributed and an even-colored broth forms. Allow to cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rub the chicken inside and out with the tablespoon of olive oil. Then rub it down again with the remaining half of the spice mixture. Set it aside in a large roasting pan.

Now it is time to make the stuffing. Mix all of the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl until the bread has absorbed all of the liquids and is soft. Stuff the stuffing inside the bird using your hands.

Remove the vegetables from the heat and use a large ladle to transfer them and the broth to the roasting pan, arranging the vegetables around the chicken. If necessary, add water so that the broth is between 2 and 3 inches from the top of the pan. Make sure the liquid is at least 2 inches below the top of the roasting pan, otherwise it will boil over and onto the bottom of the oven, making everything smokey and unfun. Place in the oven and roast for 1 hour and 15 to 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken and the stuffing reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the chicken skin or the vegetables begin to get too dark but the internal temperature hasn't reached 165 degrees yet, remove the pan from the oven, cover it in foil, and then place it back in the oven until done.

Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

2011-06-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I have news. Big news. News warranting as excessive amount of cupcakes. I am going to be an NBC Page.

After going through an interview/screening process that has taken almost a year, I got a call a few days ago from NBC and was asked to be in their next group of Pages. I was shaking I was so excited. Sometimes getting what you want can be slightly overwhelming, I had previous engagements for the time period they asked me to start, so I didn't know what to do. At first I said that I wouldn't be able to join this group, and they said thank you and that they would keep me in mind for next time. Then, once I was off the phone, I sat and thought for a bit.

And....

I had this dark, sinking feeling that I had made the wrong choice. Like being sucked into a pit of sand. So, to help figure things out, I spoke with Jeremy and he encouraged me to go for it and put my other plans aside. So, I called again. It went to voicemail. I left a message, explaining that I had thought more about it and that I would cancel my other plans and join the program. I also apologized for my excessive flip-floppiness. They called me back in a few minutes and welcomed me to the program. In celebration of this momentous occasion, I decided that cupcakes should be had by all! And not just any cupcakes, but cheesecake ones with a homemade raspberry jelly and graham cracker crust. I also included a video tutorial on how I did the frosting for these. I hope these bring you as much joy as my Page surprise brought me. Makes about 22 cupcakes.

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cheesecake

(3) 8 Ounce Packages Cream Cheese

4 Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Tablespoon and 1 Teaspoon Flour

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Fresh Raspberries for Garnish

Cheese Whipped Cream

2 and 2/3 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream, liquid not already whipped

3 Tablespoons Cream Cheese, softened

Raspberry Jelly

1 and 1/3 Cups Raspberries, fresh or frozen

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Water

Graham Cracker Crust

1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/3 Cup Butter, melted

2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Start by making the raspberry jelly. Bring the raspberries, sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix well, breaking apart the raspberries with the end of your spoon. Allow to boil for 7 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Then put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Next, make the graham cracker crust. In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs. Add the butter, and mix well. It should get kind of clumpy now, and should stick together if you press it between your fingers. Set it aside.

Now comes the cheesecake part. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and cream cheese until well blended. Add the heavy whipping cream and mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Get out your cupcake pan and put in cupcake liners. Place 1 tablespoon of the graham cracker mixture at the bottom of each cup, pressing it into the bottom of the cup gently with the backs of your curled fingers. Then, place 1 teaspoon of the raspberry jelly in the center of each of the graham cracker crusts. Next, fill each cup 3/4 full with the cheesecake mixture.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and continue to bake for another 12 to 16 minutes, or until the tops of the cheesecakes are golden. They will crack at the top, and that is okay, because we will be covering the cracks with whipped cream, which brings me to the next part.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the cheese whipped cream. Put the heavy whipping cream and cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on high for about 2 minutes, or until a dense and thick whipped cream forms. This will be much thicker than store bought whipping cream, and it will pipe out of the frosting bag quite nicely! Cover and refrigerate.

Once the cupcakes are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature. Then, place them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill. Now they are ready to be frosted.

Fit a frosting bag with a size 13 closed star frosting tip. Now fill the bag two-thirds full of the whipped cream and roll down the empty top of the bag until the whipped cream is nice and compacted inside, as air bubbles will cause the frosting to sputter out messily rather than in nice, clean strokes. Grab a cupcake and start icing it around the outside edge, continuing around the edge until you are about to meet the point where you started frosting. Curl the frosting into the center of the cupcake, and you are done! It is basically like making a single, large spiral.

Repeat this process with all of the cupcakes. Garnish the tops with a single raspberry. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers.

Honeydew Hefeweizen Smoothie

2011-05-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to go when I am back home in Oregon is a restaurant chain called McMenamins. Not only are the majority of their restaurant locations in really old and/or historic buildings, but they make one my favorite milkshakes in the world. They brew their own beer there, and have a wheat beer with a hint of raspberry called the Ruby. Being the geniuses that they are, they made a milkshake will vanilla ice cream, raspberries, and a tad of the Ruby. It is amazing!!! So, I decided to create my own version with honeydew melon. I love fresh honeydew, it has such a cool, sweet, and refreshing taste. I honestly can't think of any other fruit I enjoy more on a really hot day. This recipe is very easy to make, (I love milkshakes for this very reason...and because they taste awesome), and tastes lovely. Nice and sweet and creamy, with a hint of hefeweizen. I wouldn't try it with any non-wheat beer, though, as wheat beers tend to go especially well with fruity flavors. Trying it with an IPA would be a different story.... probably a story with a sad ending.

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 of a Honeydew Melon

3 and 1/3 Cups Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Cup Hefeweizen (Wheat Beer)

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Fun Straws (optional)

Small and Thin Honeydew Slices for Garnish (optional)

Cut the honeydew in half and then remove and discard the seeds using a metal spoon. Wrap up half of the melon and put it in the refrigerator to eat at your convenience.

Cut the honeydew into 2 inch thick slices and then peel the outer skin off of each slice. It is better to cut them into long slices before peeling because they are easier to hold and peel that way than when they are still in a giant awkward half-sphere.

Once all of the slices are peeled, cut the honeydew melon into roughly 2 x 3 inch chunks. Place half of the pieces in the freezer, and the other half in the refrigerator. Let them chill for 1 hour.

Remove the honeydew pieces from the freezer and refrigerator and toss them together in a bowl so they are evenly distributed. If you have a large food processor, you don't need to do the following and divide everything in half and do it twice. I have a regular sized blender and it doesn't fit everything in it at once, so I had to divide the ingredients in half and do it in two batches, as follows.

Place half of the the melon pieces into a blender with half of the other ingredients. Put the lid on the blender and blend on high until the mixture is completely blended, about 45 seconds. Pour the mixture into glasses, then repeat this process with the other half of the ingredients.

Serve immediately with fun straws and a small slices of fresh honeydew, if desired. Makes about 4 servings.

Baked Blueberry Custard with Lemon Syrup

2011-05-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Remember last post when I talked about holding on to my egg yolks? Well, I did it for the thick delicious treat that is custard. I have always loved custard, ever since I can remember. Sometimes that means a few weeks, but today my memory is reaching all the way back to my childhood. When I was a little girl my favorite dessert in the world was galaktoboureko, a greek dessert that consists of custard tucked neatly between buttered filo dough sheets, baked in the oven and doused with syrup. I didn't want to have to deal with the difficulties that filo dough presents, so I made a custard similar to galaktoboureko but put them in small corningware dishes. Much easier.

The custard came out great, although the blueberries I used tasted a little funny. I think it was because they weren't organic, for some reason I can't taste the difference between most organic and non-organic produce, except for berries. And especially blackberries, they always taste like soap if they're not organic for some reason. I will make a mental note buy organic berries in the future.

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Syrup

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Water

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

Custard

6 Egg Yolks

2 Cups Milk

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Semolina

1/4 Cup Fresh Blueberries
2 Tablespoons Butter
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Rind

First make the syrup. Bring the sugar, water, and lemon juice to a boil over medium high heat. Allow to boil for 7 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Now you can start making the custard. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm the milk in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the semolina, sugar, salt, and butter and mix well. Continue to warm the mixture, stirring constantly, until it is very hot but not boiling. Then lower the heat.

Place the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. Slowly ladle some of the milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking all the while. Continue adding the milk to the egg yolks in this gradual manner until half of the milk mixture has been blended into the egg yolk mixture.

Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the milk mixture and whisk well. Allow the custard to continue cooking and thicken for 3 minutes over low heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in the nutmeg, vanilla extract, and grated lemon rind.

Pour the custard into (6) 7 ounce oven-safe ramekins. Put the ramekins on a baking sheet, so you don't have to keep ducking into the oven putting in and taking out the ramekins one at a time. Place in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the tops of the custards are a nice golden brown.

Remove from the oven and gently pierce the surface of the custards in 4 or 5 places with a fork. Arrange the blueberries on top of the custards in a centered circle, then pour 2 tablespoons of the syrup over each ramekin. Allow them to rest and absorb the syrup for 30 minutes. Serve immediately, and keep any leftovers refrigerated.