Saturday, June 27, 2009

Strawberry Fields


I had to post and brag about the wonderful produce we've been enjoying lately. So far this summer I've had gorgeous, juicy peaches and nectarines, as well as kiwis and magoes. But perhaps my all-time favorite fruit, and most recent purchase were strawberries.


These particular berries were Driscoll Organic berries. As we all know, organic produce is often more expensive than other produce. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the non-organic berries were almost a dollar more expensive than these little gems. Score one for me!


I also must confess that I did absolutely nothing to these berries except to wash them, blot them dry gently, and eat them! Delicious!

Monday, June 22, 2009

My Ace of Cakes Episode


This past year our school stopped sponsoring seasonal sports banquets, and instead each team was responsible for organizing their own. At the very end of the year (we procrastinate), Adam was finally able to schedule and hold the basketball team banquet. I will gladly take full credit for the banquet: I called the caterer, reserved the school's courtyard, and...made the cake.


Let me pause and digress here: I'm addicted to watching the Food Network, and one of my favorite shows to catch in the evening is Ace of Cakes. I love to watch the cast members of the show push the envelope in terms of creativity with food. When watching Food Network, I often want to jump up and start cooking whatever is currently on the screen. Perhaps that was the origin of my recent...shall we say, delusions of grandeur?


Here's what happened:


As I said, I made the cake for the banquet and knew going in that it would have to be a fairly big cake (in total I made 4 9x13 sheet cakes and smooshed (technical term) them together). Now, since this needed to be done quickly, I caved and used cake mixes to save time, as well as store bought icing. Still, I began baking the day before the banquet at 3:30pm and was about finished at 8pm. As I pulled the last sheet cake from the oven, the glass Pyrex dish slipped from my hands. Despite my best efforts to save the pan (which was a toasty 350 degrees at the time of the incident), the pan fell from my hands, bounced off the door of my oven, and crashed to the floor (naturally, all of this seemed to happen in slow motion). Even today, nearly two months later, I can't remember exactly what I did in the moment of silence that followed the shattering of the pan. I do remember that in the process of cleaning up the mess I employed an omelet spatula given to us as a wedding present (thanks, Aunt Kathy!). As I flipped broken glass-embedded cake into the trash, I noticed my husband bent over a particularly large piece of cake. As I watched in horror, he scooped up some cake and ATE IT!! That was it! It was getting late, I was going to have to go back to the store, not just for another cake mix, but also to find another PAN to bake in, and the cake wasn't going to get iced until the next day. Irritably I told my husband (whom I love more than life itself), "So help me, if you swallow glass and cut your own throat, I will not be the one to drive you to the hospital!" After that melodramatic rant, I flung myself crying into my car and drove to Walmart for cake mix and a pan.


Needless to say, things weren't as bad as they seemed. I came home and finished baking, apologized for yelling at the hubby (who was quite understanding about the whole incident, really), and even got a couple hours of sleep.


The next day I approached the cake with a new caffeine-spiked optimism. As I said, I was inspired by Ace of Cakes. With that in mind, and sipping from the largest cup of coffee Starbucks would sell me, I cut into the cake, shaping it into a basketball jersey. And it didn't look too shabby, if I do say so myself. Next I iced the cake with white icing and then, since nothing bad had happened yet, took a stab at dying icing. With the recently dyed-red icing, I added trim to the jersey, as well as a number. Finally, just as Adam was trying to load the car and head to the banquet, I added the final detail: a tiny Nike Swoosh in the lower righthand corner. Barring minor decrepancies, I had recreated in cake one of my husband's team's home game jerseys.


It looked great and the cake was delicious. People asked me, "Will you make this again next year?" Ummm....no. I don't think I would survive another incident like this. But like I said, the cake looked pretty good in the end (in spite of all the bumps -- and crashes -- along the way).

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Flying Gorillas




Birthdays when I was in college were always a challenge. You see, since my birthday is in early December, it always seemed to fall on the first day of final exams or on the day before exams. In other words, my birthday was at a time when no one had the time or the inclination to celebrate. The Christmas after my 21st birthday my parents and I were shopping at the St. Louis Galleria and stopped for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. A Flying Gorilla at the Cheesecake Factory is a banana and chocolate daquiri and it was the first alcoholic drink I ever had with my parents. I think I chose to get that particular drink because it had an interesting name more than any other reason. You may have noticed from my post titles that I enjoy interesting names! =]

For the past several days my husband has been requesting that I come up with a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins. I don't know why he suddenly began to crave that particular combination, but it works out well, since I can name that creation a Flying Gorilla. I did some recipe research online, everything from asking my friend Emily (of The View From the Thirty-Second Floor) to epicurious and foodnetwork.com. Finally, I chose to use a recipe from Tyler Florence and adapt it slightly. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. Below is the recipe from Tyler's Ultimate. Any changes I made are noted in parentheses.

Flying Gorillas

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat flour and half A/P)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used a 6 oz. bag of walnuts and chopped them roughly)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins. (I used paper muffin liners -- easier clean-up.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes (I whipped all four bananas, at hubby's request). Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway (I used a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to get even muffins).

Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out (this was a good idea -- I'll do this with other muffins, brownies, etc. in the future).

Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes (these were ready after 18 minutes in my oven). Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These are delicious and I can't wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Bake While the Sun Shines




I'm sitting here at my kitchen table typing happily, pausing often to look out my lovely big bay window into the front yard. The sun is shining, my geraniums are blooming brightly, robins are hopping about after worms, and I'm listening to some of my favorite music (thank you,Project Playlist). Even better, there's currently a zero percent chance of rain (quite a switch -- it's been so rainy here that you'd think we were living in Seattle instead of the St. Louis-area). Since it's bright and sunny out, with very low humidity and lower temperatures overall, I figured this was a good day to get the baking bug out of my system. For quite a while, I've been meaning to bake another loaf of multigrain bread (recipe in my post, "Making Bread, Breaking Bread"). And then, the other day my friend Emily posted in her blog ("The View From the Thirty-Second Floor") about baking homemade chocolate pretzels....

Clearly I was overdue for an afternoon of me-time in the kitchen with a couple new recipes and my laptop playing all my favorite tunes (currently playing: Billy Joel's Uptown Girl -- classic!). I started the afternoon by getting out all the ingredients for the chocolate pretzels. As I arranged ingredients around my stand mixer, I noticed a portion of the recipe I had failed to pay any attention to...the butter and egg needed to come to room temperature! (I know that's a "well, duh" moment, but I totally forgot about it, okay?) Anyway, I quickly rearranged my baking schedule and started with the multigrain whole wheat bread. That way, the dough could rest while I prepared the chocolate pretzel dough.

The multigrain bread has fast become a favorite of mine, as its exterior is crusty and crumbly and it's interior is hearty, but soft and slightly chewy. As a bread, it's so versatile too! I love using it to make toast for breakfast, but it's also incredible with sliced turkey or ham as a sandwich for lunch, or even with a dab of peanut butter for a quick snack. If summer temperatures didn't prevent me, I would probably bake a loaf every week. Unfortunately, running my oven for almost an hour in a July heat wave is a recipe for heat stroke!

I'm also trying a new recipe today: chocolate pretzels. I got the recipe for these from Emily's blog as well (what can I say, she has great ideas). Her recipe, however, originated with The Smitten Kitchen, a blog that I have begun to follow as well. Smitten makes so many appealing treats, including homemade marshmallows and homemade graham crackers (used in what I can only assume were the ultimate s'mores). I have to say, you have to admire, and slightly fear, a pregnant woman who voluntarily makes s'mores from scratch in order to enjoy really good s'mores. Me, I always assumed that ANY s'more was a good s'more! But I obviously have much to learn!

I'll definitely be trying to make homemade marshmallows, etc. once. We'll see how traumatic they actually are. According to Smitten Kitchen, there's an excellent chance for me to end up wearing much of the marshmallow concoction. And while I will stipulate to the inherently messy nature of s'mores, I don't think I'd enjoy wearing them (or their individual components).

I'm sure I'll try many of the Smitten Kitchen recipes in the coming months, especially ones that don't require baking. I'm also planning to make lots of ice creams this summer (surely you remember how excited I was about my ice cream maker?!) =]


For now, my oven is preheated, and it's time to bake the bread. Another hour till the pretzel dough is ready......as Ahhr-nold would say, "I'll be back." =]

[Time Elapsed: 5 hours]


Okay, so after a really long break (and a trip to Border's for coffee and browsing), I came home and started rolling out my chocolate pretzels. After the first one broke for about the fifth time, I was ready to throw a chunk of the dough. Long story short, I made half a batch and will worry about the rest of the dough tomorrow. Or not.

For those of you who are feeling adventurous, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Pretzels

1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour (I used King Arthur White/Wheat Flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk (for brushing)
Rock sugar (for sprinkling)

Place butter into mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add sugars and beat for 2 minutes until butter and sugar is well combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix in melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Do not over mix. Dough will pull away from sides and form a ball in the bottom of the bowl.

Remove dough from bowl. Form into a long rectangle. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. Remove dough from fridge. Cut into 20 equal chunk portions. Roll each section into a long snake, about 10 inches long. Form dough into a circle and then twist twice at the bottom. Fold ends over to form a pretzel shape. Place on a baking sheet. Brush with egg yolk and then sprinkle with rock sugar.

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Pretzels will just start to harden. Transfer to a cooling rack. Do not store until completely cool.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Great Balls of...Meat!

The other day I had meatball-apalooza at my house. Right after we first got married I tried out a recipe for homemade meatballs and made spaghetti and meatballs (complete with homemade marinara sauce, I might add). Adam loved the meatballs and I had made waaaaaay too many, so we froze the leftovers. As I recall, we put 5 or 6 in a Ziploc baggie and added a ladle-full of the sauce (as I recall, we filled about 8 baggies total). We discovered that this made for super simple weeknight suppers, whether we were in the mood for pasta or a meatball sub. I've made the recipe several times since then, but never got around to blogging about it. So, after last weekend's record-setting meatball-making, here I am...

It all started on Thursday night. Adam ate the last baggie of meatballs for a late dinner. He mentioned that we needed to make more of them for easy dinners (that wouldn't heat up the kitchen too badly) during the summer. I happened to have some ground chuck and sirloin in the freezer, and so took it out to thaw. In total, I thawed about 6 pounds of meat and so made a triple batch of meatballs on Saturday morning. Below is my recipe...I started with Ina Garten's recipe from foodnetwork.com and then made modifications to add depth of flavor.

Meatball Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 sandwich slices, crusts removed)
1/4 cup Italian dried bread crumbs
1-2 tablespoons dried parsley
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 teasoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 ground nutmeg (grate it fresh, it matters)
1 extra-large egg, beaten (let the egg come to room temp., about 30 minutes...again, it matters)
Olive oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the following ingredients lightly with a fork (try not to mash the mixture, as this will make the meatballs tough and hard):
-ground meats
-fresh bread crumbs
-dried bread crumbs
-parsley and oregano
-parmesan
-salt and pepper
-nutmeg
-egg

After mixing thoroughly, I used an 1 1/2 inch ice cream scooper to scoop even amounts of the meatball mixture, then rolled them lightly into balls and set them aside on a tray.

Pour about 1/4 inch of olive oil (I used classic olive oil for this instead of extra virgin because I think it gives the meatballs more flavor) into the largest skillet you own. Heat oil over medium heat. Brown meatballs in small batches (be careful not to overcrowd the skillet!) and turn the meatballs carefully with a spatula or fork (I used a large off-set spatula that I also like using to frost cakes...but I digress). Each batch takes about 8-10 minutes to brown. Drain the meatballs on a paper towel-covered plate and then transfer to a slow cooker to finish cooking. I pour in a small amount of marinara and then a layer of meatballs. Continue layering meatballs and sauce until the slow cooker is full (or you run out of meatballs). =] Let simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours.

**These are delicious fresh, but also keep very well in the freezer for up to 3 months (impressive, yes?) =]

Monday, June 8, 2009

High *Steaks* Cooking

Today has been a busy day at my house. I got up early and did some cleaning (vacuuming, my least favorite chore), ran a bunch of errands, planted some beautiful Sprint Red begonias in between rain showers, and then started on dinner: Grilled Steak Kabobs. I started with a 2.15 lb. (it was gi-normous) London Broil steak, a fairly expensive cut, but it was recommended by my butcher. And what a great recommendation! The steak was juicy, tender, and absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious! I cut the steak into kabob-sized cubes (about an inch to an inch-and-a-half square), and marinated them in a homemade marinade that I've used in the past with chicken. But I can happily report that it is excellent with steak as well! I'm sure this would have been even better had the steak marinated overnight, and that's what I plan to do next time. But since Adam and I have been grilling quite a bit lately, I was craving something other than our usual burgers.

The Marinade:
One clove of garlic, minced per pound of meat
Combine 2 tablespoons of each of the following for each pound of meat:
-Olive oil
-Soy Sauce
-Honey

The Kabobs:
I soaked bamboo skewers for about an hour before loading and grilling them. In theory, this should keep the skewers from catching fire on the grill. In reality, the skewers caught fire fairly quickly and Adam and I were kept busy finding creative ways of putting them out (using tongs to grab the flames and smother them is a method I can recommend).

I loaded the skewers with the marinated steak cubes, chunks of yellow onion, and red and yellow bell peppers. Delicious!