Poached Eggs

Hubby has mastered poached eggs, they are soooo good, and to top it off, he makes a delicious, beautiful presentation shown here. He made a guacamole with our homegrown cilantro (bottom), veggies stir-fried shown on top of our homegrown greens (left), and the main act: a poached egg on top of an english muffin. He fills a sauce pot with water, a little salt, and a good splash of white vinegar. Bring to a boil, then turn the burner to low. Wait until the water stops boiling rapidly. You must break the eggs in a shallow cup and gently lower them into the water to avoid them spreading out. Leave the burner on low and cover the pot, let sit for about 5 minutes. He likes to slice cheese on the english muffin, spread some good dijon mustard on it, place the finished, poached egg on top, and stick in the toaster oven just to evaporate all of the water. Sometimes he gets even more creative by putting some herb de provence in the water as well. See why I married him?

Granola: 1st Attempt

I told you that I would post about my attempt at granola, well here's my first try. It was (a) really simple, and (b) really good! I adapted the recipe from here:
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/01/easy_homemade_g.html

Who Knew? Yogurt!!

So, I FINALLY tried making yogurt, and why did I wait so long? I have no idea. It's almost silly how easy and nearly foolproof it is to make, AND it's much tastier. No additives, simply milk and some starter yogurt: can't get more natural than that! People suggest using a specific brand of yogurt, but I used something different and it worked out fine. As long as you have the friendly, little bacteria guys in there to start, they'll do the work on your new batch. And those are the guys that make yogurt so healthy, so don't be scared of them. They are like the ladybugs in your garden, welcome visitors!

Homemade Oreos (so worth it!)

I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, as I do a lot of recipes. This one is a definite keeper as it was a huge it with hubby + our friends. It wasn't even that hard to make. If you like to bake and have a sweet tooth, this is for you:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/

I found that my chocolate wafers were a little bit too puffy, Smitten Kitchen's wafers look flatter and more oreo-like than mine. Next time, I'll push 'em down a little more. However, puffy or not, these are damn good.

Oh Delicious Crepe Cake!

Ok, I don't want to brag, really, I don't. BUT, we have perfected the Crepe Cake (or Gateau de Crepes)! My husband and I changed up the recipe to our taste, because as he says, "everyone likes chocolate better than vanilla". I don't always agree with that, but hey, maybe the majority prefer chocolate...

Chocolate-Hazelnut Layered Mousse with Fresh Whipped Cream

Canard Hachis Parmentier (Minced Duck Topped with Mashed Potatoes)

Hi Everyone! We had a lovely dinner party with some of our good friends a couple weeks ago, and I've been meaning to share with you the main culinary characters. We made canard hachis parmentier with a stuffed tomato, and chocolate-hazelnut layered mousse (see separate post) for dessert. We just returned from France and had a fabulous time with my husband's family, and of course, there was lots of great food which provided inspiration for this dinner party. My brother-in-law's Aunt made hachis parmentier (which translates to shepherd's pie, according to a quick google search, but I believe that hachis alone means minced. I need my French family to help translate parmentier). Anyway, this was no shephard's pie, it was much more elegant than a simple peasants dish. I can't take credit for this dish alone, my wonderful husband and I did this together. He was responsible for putting the finished product together, and what an excellent job he did! I was reminded once again that I made the right choice for my partner.

Fun Cupcakes!

Personally, I think sprinkles make everything more fun! I always choose the desert that has the sprinkles on it, no matter if it's ice cream, a cookie, or cake. I made a vanilla cupcake with strawberry jam dropped in the middle (this part is really good), with a marshmallow frosting. The marshmallow frosting is mostly a meringue-like, no butter. I cut the sugar in half, since the I prefer these kind of things to not be too crazy sweet. I think it was pretty good, but I prefer buttercreams more on cupcakes, so since I probably won't be making the frosting again like this, I won't post the recipe. But, if anyone wants the recipe, I'd be more than happy to post something.

1st attempt at Cuban Opera Cake

This is my first attempt at making the complicated Cuban Opera Cake (recipe is on Epicurious, just do a google search and it would be the first thing to come up). There are a few things that I'd like to change, namely having even layers of buttercream, with less on the top. Also, it's better to really let the chocolate glaze cool completely, while still pourable, which will leave more glaze on top. Next time, concentrate on getting the layers really even before you put the cake layer of top.

Sangria

All the fruit your heart desires (mango is particularly good in here)
Juice of 1 orange ~1/2 cup (probably easiest to just buy OJ
¼ cup granulated sugar (I like to use superfine sugar)
¼ cup Triple Sec
One 750 ml. bottle inexpensive, fruity, medium-bodied red wine, chilled

put the sangria back in the OJ and wine containers (with funnel)
Serves 4 - so for a party of 80 people, multiply by 20!

Buns

3/4 cup (6 ounces) lukewarm milk
3/4 cup (6 ounces) lukewarm water
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Baker's Special Dry Milk
1/2 cup (2 3/8 ounces) Hi-maize® Natural Fiber (I didn't add this...)
3 cups + 3 tablespoons (12 ounces) Flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to form a smooth, supple dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface. Shape it into a 6" x 15" rectangle, and place it in a lightly greased New England hotdog bun pan. Grease the bottom of a clean baking sheet and place it on top of the pan so the rising dough will fill the pan evenly. Let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough has almost filled the pan.

Preheat your oven to 375°F. With the baking sheet still on top, bake the buns for 18 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and bake 5 minutes longer, to brown the buns. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, then turn the buns out of the pan to cool completely on a rack. When completely cool, slice each bun down the middle horizontally, without cutting through the bottom; then separate into individual buns. Yield: 10 buns (I made 4 buns...since I like big hamburger buns. Looks like I could have split it into 5 easily, maybe 6).

Easy Ginger Carrot Muffin

Here is the recipe, with my modifications in parentheses. These turned out perfectly fluffy and sweet. You could do any variation on this, even if you just have regular pancake mix. Add in whatever you want to make fruity or savory muffins! So many possibilities. I've had this Gingerbread mix laying around forever, b/c we don't like it as pancakes. Works great as muffins, though!

Apple Oatmeal Creme Brulée

2-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats (such as Quaker Oatmeal)
1/2 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smith apple (I don't peel them, and I put more apples than this)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (I don't like as much sugar, so I decrease the total sugar to about 1/2 cup)
3-1/3 cups non fat milk
1/2 cup egg substitute (such as Egg Beaters) (you could use 2 eggs)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place oats, chopped apple and sugar in the prepared baking dish. Stir until well combined. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, egg substitute, and vanilla extract. Pour over oatmeal mixture. Stir to make sure the oatmeal mixture is well-coated. Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake. You want the center to still be moist, like a thick soup. Remove from the oven. Turn oven temperature up to broil.

Sprinkle with the brown sugar in a thin layer, making sure the sugar coats the entire surface of the oatmeal. Return to the oven and broil 2 to 3 minutes, until the top is browned and crusty. Serve warm, topped with bananas, raisins, walnuts and/or milk.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Per serving (based on 6): 251 calories, 2 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 3 mg cholesterol, 50 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 11 g protein, 2% vitamin A, 3% vitamin C, 20% calcium, 9% iron

Low-fat, but still delicious Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil

Note: I don't add salt; and I usually use egg beaters or the whole egg because I don't like wasting the yolk.

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir togther the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl stir together the egg whites, banana, sugar, and oil. Add dry mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened.

3. Spray an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick coating. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Putting it all together

This is my first idea to balance out the different colored cakes. All three cakes are cut in half (although you can't tell from this angle), and the top cake was cut to make a smaller-diameter tier. So, these aren't exactly even. If I were doing this for real, I would not have cut corners and it wouldn't be as messy-looking. But still, I think it looks yummy! My lovely taste-tester approves, and even said that it was the best cake that I've ever made :) The bottom cake is a chocolate cake with black raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream, and the top two cakes are white cakes with black rasberry filling and french vanilla buttercream. I love the flowers, they are from some Tucson plants just outside my place.