Happy New Year!

Well last night started the Jewish New Year and tonight I am going to my parent's for dinner. I volunteered to make an Apple Spice Cake and I decided to try something new Honeycomb Candy. Since apples and honey are a traditional food during this holiday I thought it was the perfect thing to bring.

I thought I made the apple cake before but can't find any record of that. I know my mother-in-law made it for a family dinner once so many that is why I am confused. I got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com and it is linked above. I am going to wait until tonight to take a picture of it set up on the table looking pretty. This cake was really easy to make and smells awesome! Something I would definitely make again and again.

I remember a while back after watching a show on the food network that showed the host making the honeycomb candy. It just seemed to me like something I would like to eat and I was interested in tasting it. However it isn't one of those candies you can get in the store. I finally found a recipe (it is linked up above) that I had all the ingredients in the house and decided to make it.

Review: It wasn't that hard to make and I think the hardest part was waiting for the sugar mixture to get to the right color/temperature. The recipe above doesn't state a temperature but others I looked at all said to wait until it reaches 300 degrees. It was really fun to watch it grow when you put in the baking soda. I only tried a tiny piece of it which I liked but I will update this review tonight when I have a nice size piece with dessert. All in all I think I would make this again.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Lavash Crackers

I didn't know how to introduce this month's challenge so I stole what was presented to us fellow Daring Bakers for the intro.

This month we are making Daring Bakers history as our September challenge is vegan and/or gluten free. For the first time ever, the torch has been passed to « Alternative » Daring Bakers : Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl. We wanted to make something savory this month, and we chose the recipe for Lavash Crackers from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (pp 178 - 180).

I have to say that I don't know what I was thinking (I will blame it on the pregnancy) but for some odd reason I thought the due date for this was the 30th. I really planned on making this the first weekend I had but one thing after another happened. I ran out of yeast and then my eggplant for my dip was not good. So it got put off until this weekend.

I have to say that I was very excited about making this cracker because it is something that seems so much more difficult to make then it actually was. I think this time I actually timed it perfectly with my son's nap time. I made the dough just before I put him down and was able to bake it just before he woke up. He will be very happy to see what I made because he loves crackers.

Dough after 90 minute rise

Right out of the oven

All broken into crackers

A closer look at the cracker

Review: I wasn't worried about this recipe which sort of made me worry. I read it and thought that it seemed pretty straight forward but it is like a test when you think you aced it then you failed. The most time consuming part if it is waiting for the dough to rise but other then that nothing was really that bad. I decided to use my KAF artisan seed mix to top half of it and just kosher salt to top the other half. The only part that needs work in for me is getting the dough rolled up thin and even. I had parts that were perfect and parts that were a little too thick. This is something I would defiantly make for a party if I am organized and think ahead (which doesn't always happen). I think this recipe is a keeper and I will work in it to get it super thin. Thank you so much for this month's challenge.

Another part of this challenge was to make a dip/topping to go with it. I have made that but I haven't gotten around to taking a picture of it just yet. I made this dip up sort of because I did it from memory of something I had a long long time ago at a party.


Eggplant Garlic Dip

1 eggplant, cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic (more if you want it really garlicy)
1 cup ketchup

Saute the garlic with a little bit of oil in a pan for about a minute or two. Add the eggplant and cook until tender. Add the ketchup, mix together and let cook for alittle bit until it comes together. Cool and serve.

This recipe is really to your taste so you can add more whatever you love

Please visit one of the host blog's for the recipe to the Lavash Crackers.

New Candy

Yesterday I went to the store to look for one thing and found another! Heidi and I have this thing when we find new candy (at least to us)...and of course I had to buy it. Some times I don't buy the new candy just because it doesn't appeal to me. This new one is a whole different story because I have been thinking about the flavor lately with fall coming around the corner.

A new limited edition Hershey Kiss in the flavor of Pumpkin Spice. I was so excited because I have been thinking about these pumpkin truffles my neighbor let me try last year. These are almost as good (very close to it) and probably SOO much cheaper. I was thinking of all the things I could make with these kisses but I don't know if they will last long enough.

Watermelon ice pops - August recipe

I know Im posting this a bit late...but heres my August recipe. I had bought a whole seedless watermelon to bring up to Shinhopple one weekend and nobody cut into it. I searched all over for something to do with it. I couldnt eat a whole water melon by myself..LOL. I thought something cool would be good, since it was in the middle of summer. I found a recipe on the kraft food site for these ice pops. They are so simple to make:


2 cups water
1/2 cup COUNTRY TIME Lemonade Flavor Drink Mix
3 cups chopped seedless watermelon
1 cup ice cubes


Now, instead of making the drink which was the original recipe, I though freezing them would make a yummier treat.

My first attempt with this was horrible...the country time lemonade made this so sour I couldnt stand it. Kevin who likes sour ( and lemonade ) said he couldnt eat it either. Way way too sour =(. I had to throw the whole batch right down the drain. My second attempt instead of using lemonade mix, I used raspberry ice mix from crystal lite. What a difference. The second batch came out great!! Kevin ate them very quick on those hot summer days. I'd definally make these again next summer. They turned out to be a nice cool summer treat.

A Cafe Visit

Last week Mike had off from work and I wanted to do something other then running errands. So we decided to take a trip to the Culinary Institute of America (which is down the road from us) since the casual dining restaurant is only open Monday thru Friday.

We had lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe and I really wish I brought my camera with me. I did get a picture of my lunch on my phone but I don't know how to get that on here. Mike and I both had the same thing because I couldn't decide what I wanted fast enough...I did bring home the menu so I can study it and get something different the next time. We had a grilled Reuben Panini with french fries...oh my I think it was the best one I have ever had. Even the fries were and experience with the three different dipping sauces it came with (ketchup, aioli and malt vinegar). Just the right amount of stuff on the panini and it didn't fall apart when you bite into it.

I have to say that my expectation of the CIA was high but they delivered in every way. I can't wait to go back and sample more of it. We didn't get to have dessert there which looked so good because the little one was acting up. We are also going to try at one point to eat in one of the fancier restaurants but that requires some planning since reservations have to be made at least a month in advance if not more.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Eclairs

When I found out what this month's challenge was going to be I got a little worried. A very long time ago I once tired to make Eclairs for a family event...and I failed beyond failing. They came out so hard and didn't puff at all. So this was going to be a real challenge for me to put that memory behind me and try again.

This month's challenge was hosted by Tony Tahhan and MeetaK. They got the wonderful recipe from the book Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Hermé. I didn't make the whole recipe because we had a choice to make one thing chocolate and I picked to make the glaze but not the chocolate pastry cream.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm
1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:

1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops ofthe éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk

• ½ cup (125g) water

• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

• ¼ teaspoon sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour

• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted itshould fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Glaze (makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream

• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature

• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:

1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 1 cup (250 g) water

• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream

• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:

1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.

2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Review: It was SOOOO excited when my dough came out the way it was suppose to come out. I even got more excited after I baked them and they puffed like they should puff. This was truly a way to concur my fear of eclairs because I plan on making these again. I didn't make the chocolate pastry cream but I did try to make vanilla pastry cream. I found a recipe online and I thought everything worked out well but then when I tasted the cream it was not edible...very bland and not sweet at all. So fortunately I had a back up plan which I think worked out well. I made some chocolate pudding and filled the eclairs with that instead. Everyone loved them and they went so fast I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the completed eclair with the chocolate glaze and all. I had to settle for a picture with a pudding filled and topped eclair which were just as yummy! This recipe is defiantly one to add to the list of things to make again. Thank you so much for this challenge and getting me to try making these again!

Oh one little funny thing that happened when I had the oven door open when baking the shells...it melted the knobs on my stove...oops.

My First Harvest.

It wasn't too long ago when I shared the picture with you of our first siting of a zucchini. We had a lot of rain the other night so I went out in the morning to check on the garden. I was up a little bit worrying about it getting flooded again. To my surprise there it was full grown and ready to be picked. I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell everyone. I wasn't going to pick it yesterday but then realized I didn't have a good veggie to make for dinner...it was so nice to go out to the garden and realize that I did in fact have a veggie to make for dinner.

Zucchini still on the plant.

Fresh picked and sitting on my front step (I wanted to get a picture of it with my son but he almost tossed it down the steps)

Cut up and being sauteed in the pan.

There really isn't anything like the taste of a fresh picked vegetable and I can't wait for everything else to start popping up. I know we will soon have a bunch of yellow squash ready to be picked...which of course I will keep everyone updated on that.

My niece, Emelia

So totally un-food related, although she is so cute I could eat her up! On my latest babysitting gig with my adorable niece, I noticed that she likes to make noises with her mouth. I had to record it and put it on here to share with all (it is 71MB, so emailing it was not a possibility! =)...

Michelle's July Recipe - Blueberry Heaven Smoothie

I think one of my favorite summer fruits has to be the blueberry. I just can't get enough of them when it is this time of year. They aren't usually around long enough in my house to make it into any type of recipe...except for maybe blueberry pancakes on a Saturday morning. So when they were on sale this past week at the supermarket I bought a couple of pints.

After seeing that Heidi took care of making something unique (BBQ sauce) with them and something standard with them (blueberry muffins). I didn't really know what I wanted to make using the perfectly blue little guys. I found a website totally dedicated to Blueberry recipes and new I would find something there.

Blueberry Heaven Smoothie

From Blueberry-recipes.com

Ingredients:

1 package (12-ounce size) frozen thawed blueberries OR 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cup apple juice
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions: In blender combine blueberries, apple juice, ice cream, milk and cinnamon until smooth. Serve immediately. Serves/makes 4

All ingredients in blender (top view) before being mixed together

Blueberry Heaven Smoothie

Review: Overall I really thought the taste of this recipe was Super Yummy! To me it tasted like a liquid form of a blueberry pie or a blueberry crisp which is probably because of the cinnamon added to it. The only negative thing Mike and I both thought about this smoothie was that it wasn't cold enough for us. That is partly my fault because the apple juice was at room temperature since I just bought it.

May Recipe: High Plains Steak with Peas and Pods

Wow, so it has been a busy week! We are in process of renting out our condo and I am still finding some time to make some new recipes! Yay me!

I was thumbing through Cooking Light July 2008 and ran across two different recipes: High Plains Steaks & Peas and Pods. They were noted as recipes for the July 4th holiday. So, it's a few days past, but I am also over a month past due on my May "Beef" recipe. Luckily I had a piece of London Broil in the fridge and some snap peas my dad had gotten me Upstate (as I love these peas - you can eat the outside and inside!).

High Plains Steak(s)
Cooking Light - July 2008

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 (8-ounce) sirloin strip steaks or 1 lb. London Broil
Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Prepare grill.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub mustard mixture over both sides of steaks. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand 30 minutes.
3. Place steaks on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3 ounces)

Nutritional Information:
CALORIES 155 (30% from fat); FAT 5.2g (sat 2g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.2g); IRON 2.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 10mg; CARBOHYDRATE 0.7g; SODIUM 427mg; PROTEIN 24.6g; FIBER 0.2g

Weight Watchers Points: 4

Peas and Pods
Cooking Light - July 2008

Ingredients:
3/4 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 cups fresh or frozen petite green peas, thawed
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped
fresh mint (or basil)

Directions:
1. Steam snap peas, covered, 2 minutes. Add green peas to pan; steam 2 minutes.
2. Combine peas, butter, and salt in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with mint (or basil).

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup)

Nutritional Information: CALORIES 87 (29% from fat); FAT 2.8g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.7g,poly 0.1g); IRON 1.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 7.5mg; CALCIUM 42mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.7g; SODIUM 105mg; PROTEIN 3.4g; FIBER 3.4g

Weight Watchers Points: 1

Review: I cooked a 1" thick steak for 5 minutes on each side and it came out perfectly medium. The steak was very good with just a hint of mustard. Next time I think I will try the horseradish mustard or maybe even just horseradish to kick the taste up a notch. The peas were soooo good - I think that's partially due to the fact that they were straight from the farm stand, but even the frozen peas that I defrosted were tasty. Very quick and easy meal! Yum!