Daring Bakers Challenge #2

To refresh everyone's memory (especially since I've been awful about blogging during the big move), a few months back, I joined the group Daring Bakers. Every month, members present a challenge for their fellow bakers... we all post to our blogs, and it's a lot of fun. See the link above for a list of all the Daring Bakers. After having to take 2-3 months off due to the big move, I was very excited to try......drumroll....Caramel Cake with Carmelized Butter Frosting!

This month, our challenge was hosted by Dolores of Culinary Curiosity, and the recipe came from came from Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and her signature caramel cake.

For me- this challenge went better than eclairs. The first step was to make the caramel. I admit, this step worried me... This involves boiling a mixture of water and sugar until it's darkened and thickened. The instructions said that this was dangerous due to spattering and spitting once you add the colder water to stop the cooking process. I just used a splatter guard. No harm. No foul. Next time, I need to let it go just a little longer. While the color was beautiful, it was a little thin.

The cake itself came out perfectly. I found it easier to frost than I'd expected. Perhaps, though, I should have cut the cake into two layers. Frosting in between layers would have cut down on all the icing the recipe called for. If you're going to make this cake at home, I'd say half of the frosting will suffice. Unless you want the additional pound of frosting in my fridge. The hubby says he'll eat it, so I'll leave it in there a little longer. I didn't sift a pound of sugar for nothing!

Truth be told, this was my first made-from-scratch cake, and I was pleased with the result. The cake was a little dense and oversweet for even my tastes (that's saying a lot), but very enjoyable. I also thought the taste of the browned butter in the frosting overpowered any caramel flavors. Still, as I've said, highly edible.

I chose to forego the an optional challenge: Alice Medrich’s Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels, as it was challenge enough to put together a cake from scratch with a 14 month-old running around. However, a lot of the Bakers had a great time making them, and you should check out their blogs for more pics.

Thanks for the challenge also go to bloggers who assisted in presenting the challenge: Blondie and Brownie, Foray into Food, and for those bloggers who do the alternative baking thing (not me...) thanks to Gluten-a-Go-Go. I had a lot of fun with this challenge and look forward to more fun with my fellow Daring Dakers.

Our Little Piece of the World....

Welcome to our new home! Our first weeks in Massachusetts have been so wonderful, I've been a blog slacker. Enjoy the pics of our new place!

I don't care if you like Barack or not..... this is FUNNY

I am not trapped under something heavy!

I've just been very busy with the move to Boston. With the exception of heinous Dunkin Donuts replacing my Coffee Bean, I LOVE New England. Currently I'm eating a Mac apple that we picked yesterday, and sharing a cider donut with my sweet year-old bean. More posts to come. I feel a blog glut coming on!

If you didn't watch the Emmy's, you MUST watch this.

Josh Groban is awesome. This is perhaps the funniest thing I've seen on TV in years.

If you haven't heard....

We have BIG NEWS. We're moving to Boston! In less than a month! It's all very exciting, yet stressful, so I don't have a whole lot of time to talk now, but I'm hoping that the next weeks will be filled with posts about the things we'll miss in Cali, and the things we're excited about in Beantown. Thing #1 we're excited about- being able to go see Sox games at Fenway! We'll be arriving just in time for playoffs.... not that I think we'll be able to get tickets, but still. At least the games will be on TV!

Blasts from the Past.....

This summer, baby E and I are enjoying a treat from my childhood. OTTER POPS! How did I go so long without rediscovering these! Hubby insists that they are called Flav-or-Ice, but that's lame. And I know he totally digs Alexander the Grape....

My First Daring Bakers Challenge: Eclairs

Recently, I joined a group of foodie bloggers that challenge eachother once per month to attempt feats of culinary greatness. My first act as a daring baker: Chocolate Eclairs! Lucky me! I got to try something I love during my first try.

The recipe called for a standard pate e choux with chocolate pastry cream and chocolate glaze. Because it was allowed by the rules, and a have a 'nilla loving hubby, I used Martha Stewart's vanilla pastry cream. I was very proud, as I tempered my eggs, they didn't break at all! I was certain I was going to have vanilla scrambled eggs! Unfortunately, while hubby was stirring the combined pastry cream, it got all chunky (not whisking hard/fast enough). As I incorporated the butter, I whisked it smooth again. Unfortunately, it never set up enough to pipe. Despite being a little bit runny, it tasted fantastic.

Next step: Pate a Choux. Everything looked beautiful, and all instructions were followed to a T. I didn't feel like investing in a pastry bag and tips, so as you see here, I improvised with a ziplock. However, after removing the beautiful little ecairs from the oven, almost all of them went sadly flat. Hubby and I tasted one of the flat ones and it was so eggy, he described it as sweet scrambled eggs. I kept the 4 that worked, because I had to for the challenge, and as an experiment, made a half batch of Better Homes and Gardens' version of Cream Puff Dough. WOW! Super puffy, not eggy, and perfect!

Next step: Glaze. I intended to make the Glaze Recipe provided, but after a day full of sick moody baby, two attempts at dough, and trying to make travel planse, it felt unnecessarily complicated to me. First I was supposed to make a chocolate sauce. THEN create the glaze using that sauce and a bunch of other stuff. Again, I opted for Martha and her simple chocolate ganache. No muss, no fuss, and perfect- thick and shiny. Good dark chocolate taste.

All in all, it was fun! The final product looks a little sad, but tasted great. The eggy taste of the first pastry disappeared once all the elements were together. I'll definitely try that recipe again, and do it better. First, I'll bake them on my silicone mat, to prevent the overbrowning and sticking to the wax paper. I'll also bake them longer. They were just starting to be golden when I pulled them out and I don't think they'd set up in the middle, resulting with the flattening.



The second pastry dough was great, though not nearly as sweet- and made beautiful cream puffs. The recipe made puffs that were WAY too big in my taste. Next time I'll make them smaller and experiment more with filling. Perhaps a sausage and mushroom filling for a dinner dish? Fill with ice cream and top with hot fudge?

I feel confident now to call myself a Daring Baker. Check back every month for the next challenge! Weeeeee!

Something New...

Check out those pearly whites!

A Yummy, Lowfat Dinner in Less than 1/2 an Hour...

Mushroom Leek Soup

4 oz. Fresh Mushrooms (I use 8)
1 c. sliced leeks
2 tbsp. Margerine (I omitted)
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 c. Dry Sherry
6 c. Beef Broth
Ground Black Pepper to taste
1/2 c. Uncooked Orzo

In a Dutch Oven over med-hi heat, saute the mushrooms and leeks in margerine and oil. Add the Sherry, and reduce liquid by half. Add the broth and pepper. Bring to a boil and add the pasta. Boil gently for 10 min., or until the orzo is cooked.

Recipe was found at Allrecipies.com

FYI- This is fantastic with a Chicken Caesar Salad and a nice Cote du Rhone.

New Phone...

Thank goodness for cell phone contract end-dates. This week, I was finally able to get rid of my stupid Razr- the one that no longer held a charge. Instead, I got myself an LG EnV. It's got a full keyboard which makes texting MUCH easier, has Bluetooth (I don't know HOW I got by without this!), and is quite simply, supersexy.

Twilight...

I finally gave in to the hype. The week we went back East, I got the first book of the Twilight series. I'd read all 600 pages the first day there. I made my hubby take me on a midnight trip to the store to get book two, then again two days later to get book three. Yesterday, I was at Barnes and Noble picking up my reserved copy on the first day it was available. I will finish it within two days as well. Roughly 2000 pages in less than two weeks. Stephenie Meyer has single-handedly got me on track for my 12,000 page goal for 2008.

While I am thrilled that I found four great books, what am I going to do NOW? I want MORE!

A Family Heirloom....

Well, no one is getting this recipe, because it was given to me by my Maine family. Mmmmm... Fresh Blueberry Cake. It's got a streusel-y topping. I did a few things wrong- like not tossing the berries in enough flour- so they all sank to the bottom, but it still tasted amazing. I made two- one for a BBQ at a friends house, and one as a "Coffee Cake" for a breakfast thing today.

I will admit, it's best served after a monstah lobstah and Mama's homemade tater salad and corn on the cob. I think I did alright, though.

Oh My Goodness, I Love Maine

And I want to go back. NOW.

Last week, while we were back East visiting the In-Laws, I took three days for a Mommy-holiday and went by myself to visit Say in her homestate. I had to do some boyfriend recon, so it was very convenient. I'm happy to say, she's carved out quite the life up there, and I hope that maybe someday soon, we'll be closer so that I can see her and visit this amazing place more often.

Some highlights:
-The monstah lobstah we had at Say's family homestead.
- A day out on Boyfriend's boat.
- Shopping and lighthouses in Portland.

I missed baby E enormously. In fact, it actually hurt me physically to leave her. However, a few days off gives one some perspective- and I feel more like a person now than I did before. I was slipping into too much of a "I'm a mom and that's all I am." mode. Bittersweet, also, was realizing just how very much I miss my best friend, and wish she could be part of my everyday life. Fingers are crossed that this may happen soon.

Cutest Baby Ever. Nuff Said....

Thanks again to Jeff and Ami at Babies and Bellies Photography. We had a great time at our second session and love the results.

Dinner and Dessert...

Last weekend, I made a fabulous meal. What? Conceited? Maybe a little, but rightfully so. . . well, almost. The pork I made as the protein for the entree sucked, but we just set that aside and enjoyed my low-fat carmelized carrot risotto and some sauteed baby zucchini for dinner, and fresh rhubarb cake for dessert. Because I like things very light and healthy... and happen to be on Weight Watchers (9.6 lbs in 4 weeks, thanks very much) I adapted them heavily. My adaptations are in parenthesis.

Sunset Magazine's Carmelized Carrot Risotto
2 Tbsp of Oil, divided (I used closer to 2 tsp. of very high quality olive oil, and supplimented a touch with chicken stock)
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, divided (I used 2 Tsp.)
6 Med. Carrots, peeled and chopped as finely as possible, 1/4 in. dice suggested, about 3 cups
About 1/2 tsp. salt.
1 tsp. sugar
5 C. reduced-sodium chicken broth (I actually used Chicken Stock for more flavor, since I didn't use as much butter or oil)
1/2 C. minced onion ( I think I used a shallot, it was all I had.)
1 1/2 C. Arborio Rice
1/2 C. Dry White Wine
1/4 C. Marscapone cheese (I used 2 Tbsp. of Organic Light Whipped Cream Cheese)
1/4 C. freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese, plus more for garnish.
1 Tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish (I omitted this completely, and think the crap tastes awful. Why, WHY is parsley in everything?)
1 tsp. roughly chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. White Pepper (I didn't have this, just cracked some black pepper)

1. Heat 1 Tbsp each of butter and oil (I used 1 tsp. of each, and added a splash of stock) over medium heat in a large sautee pan. (Deep!). Add carrots and stir with a wooden spoon until well coated. Add 1/2 cup water, salt and sugar. Cover and cook 5 minutes, or until tender. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until water evaporated and carrots are just starting to brown. Reserve half the carrots for garnish. In a blender (I used a mini food processor), puree other half with 3/4 c. hot water.

2. Bring broth to a simmer and keep at a simmer, covered, over low heat.

3.Heat remaining oil and butter in same, unwashed pot. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add rice, stirring to coat rice with oil. Add wine and cook, stirring, until wine evaporates. Add carrot puree and cook, stirring until mixture no longer looks soupy.

4. Add 1/2 c. hot broth, stirring often, until rice absorbs most of the liquid. Repeat process, adding 1/2 c. broth at a time and stirring often till each addition is absorbed before adding the next, until rice is al dente. About 1 c. broth will remain.

5. Fold in most of reserved carrots, marscapone, and 1/4 C. Parmesan. parsley and thyme. Add up to 1 C broth (1/4 c at a time) to loosen the risotto.

6 Sprinkle each bowl with carrots, parmesan and parsley (ICK! PARSLEY! ICKYPOO!) Serve immediately and enjoy....preferably, not with dry, flavorless pork.


As I said before this week was also another Farmer's Market experiment. I'd never tasted rhubarb. It looks like red celery.... and I loathe celery. Not quite as much as parsley, but close. Still, my dad waxing about strawberry rhubarb pie made me consider it. I made a cake. And was THRILLED with the result. Tart and tasty. I wish I had known before the end of the season. I would have bought a bunch and frozen it! This turned out a lot like shortcake, and would be fantastic with some fresh whipped cream.

Cooking Light's Fresh Rhubarb Cake

4 C. Fresh, sliced Rhubarb
1 1/3 C Sugar (I used 1/3 c sugar and 1/3 c splenda in each part of the recipe)
1/3 C. Butter, soft (I used Smart Balance Omega Spread)
1 large egg
2 tsp. grated orange rind (Didn't have an orange, so I used 1/4 tsp. orange extract)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/8 tsp. Salt.
3/4 C. Low-fat buttermilk (again, didn't have it, so I used low-fat sour cream- and the cake was moist and yummmmay)

1. Combine rhubarb and 2/3 C. sugar and spoon into a greased 8' x 8' pan.

2. Beat 2/3 C. sugar and butter w/ paddle attachment for about 5 minutes. Add egg, and beat, then add orange and vanilla.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

4. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour.

5. Spread over Rhubarb mixture.

6. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

This makes 9 servings, which doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty rich.

Hot Fun in the Summertime....

It's a well-known fact that our area of SoCal is also the surface of the sun this time of the year. What do you do to keep a cranky, teething baby happy? Load up and head off to the pool. Baby E loves the pool. Bathtime is such a letdown now!

Farmer's Market Discovery

At last weekend's Farmer's Market, I saw that one of the booths was offering zucchini flowers. I had seen them used on TV, and thought, "Why not?"

After doing some research, I finally found a recipe that was baked rather than breaded and fried.
I'd post a link, but I ammended the recipe to my own needs.

Baked Zucchini Flowers

8 Zucchini Flowers
1/4 c Ricotta Cheese (we used whole milk, but you could use skim or lowfat)
1/4 c Parmesan Cheese
1 T Olive Oil (this is one of those recipes to break out the good stuff- makes for a richer taste)
1 pinch of Nutmeg

Mix and pour into a pastry bag. If you don't have a pastry bag- just use a Ziploc bag and snip off the corner.

Pipe mixture into flowers, and twist blossoms closed.

Place on a baking sheet covered with wax paper/parchment that has been spritzed with Olive Oil. Spritz or Drizzle flowers with more Olive Oil.

Bake at 325 for about 12 minutes or so. Sprinkle additional Parmesan on top of warm flowers before serving.

We served ours with some delicious pasta from our local Italian Deli. Scrumptious.

I hope they have more this week. Not only do I have a bunch of ricotta to use, and I also want to try to make them with some spinach added.

My little indoor girl...

Last weekend, Hubby and I took Baby E to the park, thinking that we'd get some great pics of her rolling around in the grass, and exploring nature.


Um. Not so much. My girl did not like the feel of the prickly grass....one bit.


Obviously, it didn't stop us from getting cute pics.

Culinary Weekend

So, this weekend, we headed up to the homestead to celebrate Dad's Day and my father's birthday with the fam. Since they just returned from Africa, I put on the whole spread. It was a great success!

We had turkey burgers created from a recipe heard on Oprah. I omitted the celery and parsley from this recipe because I hate both. The burger's were a big hit, despite the fact that my fam is a red meat fam. We served the burgers with fresh corn and watermellon from the farmers market, and tangy coleslaw from this month's Cooking Light. The slaw and burgers are both going into regular rotation at our house. Very, very yummy.

For dessert, I made Rocky Road Fudge Brownie Muffins found on Cookie Madness and White Chocolate Mini Blondies. The blondies were a recipe from Paula Deen found on Bake or Break. As with many Paula Deen recipes, at least in my opinion, it was a little much. The amount of butter used soaked thru the muffin cups and made them almost greasy. Coming from me, the comment of "too much butter" is really saying something. I don't think I'll be keeping the recipe. That said... they disappeared quickly, so everyone else liked them. You'll have to judge for yourself. The Brownie Muffins were great. I found they worked best with gourmet marshmallows from Trader Joe's. They're much softer, and melt better, holding everything to the muffin.

All in all, the food was a big hit, and I had a ton of fun doing it. Can you tell I've been reading a lot of Foodie Blogs lately? Yet another reason I want to get moved and get a house! I want to entertain!