fourth of july desserts: Şubat 2013

25 Şubat 2013 Pazartesi

New Year's Day Brunch

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Everyone is getting ready for big New Year's Eve parties, but I prefer to stay low key tonight and celebrate tomorrow with a New Year's Day brunch! Brunch is my favorite meal and a great one to host. You can make it as easy or as complicated as you'd like. I prefer to try to do as much as possible ahead of time, serving coffee cakes, muffins and other baked items I can make the night before. Here are a few tips and recipe ideas for your own brunch celebration:

Tip #1: Bake items the night before. Choose items that can be made ahead so you can enjoy your guests. Muffins and Coffee Cakes are a great choice.

Tip #2: Consider Pot-luck: You can ask other guests to bring things so you aren't spending too much time in the kitchen. Again, the idea is to be able to enjoy your guests. If you want to do the baking, you can ask guests to bring an egg, meat or vegetable dish. Or just ask them to bring some fresh fruit, which is always a great part of any brunch.

Tip #3: Even if you are making everything yourself, choose dishes that can be made ahead of time and kept warm in the oven. Things like egg casseroles, french toast, or hash browns are good options. Cover with tin foil and put in the oven at 250. Or you could make MOST of the meal ahead of time and have just ONE item that needs to be made on the spot - pancakes, eggs to order, etc.

Tip #4: Have several drink options - Coffee, Tea, (and Decaf coffee or tea) as well as a variety of juices. Some brunch cocktails can be great too - Mimosas and Bloody Marys can be made by the pitcher quickly and easily just before serving the food. Sure, it's nice to make individual drinks, but we're trying to keep it EASY here! :)

Here are some Menu Ideas. Just click on the link for the recipe:

Go British with fancy teas and freshly made Scones:

Recipe for Traditional Cream SconesHow to brew proper cup of Tea Great Coffee Cakes you can make ahead:

Almond Coffee CakeI also make a cranberry almond coffee cake by adding one cup chopped fresh cranberries to this recipe.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Lemon Coffee Cake Muffins can also be made ahead and are a healthier option:

Zucchini Spice / Carrot Spice Muffins

Apple Breakfast Muffins

Sugar 'N' Spice Muffins (okay, so these ones are not as healthy as the ones above, but they are my favorite!) Or do traditional breakfast fare with these Homemade Pancakes:

Homemade Pancakes

You can even "carmelize" some apples to put on top - just peel and slice 2-3 large apples, put them in a sautee pan, add 1 Tbsp butter plus 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and cinnamon (or other spices to taste) cook on medium heat until the apples have softened and the sauce is syrupy like caramel.

Easy Valentine's Day Treats

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If you are looking for sweets for your sweetie, but you don't want to get into complicated decorating, here are some treats that look lovely and are pretty easy to make (links or instructions are below each picture):

Bon-Bons and Cake Truffles

Nutella Hearts: This one is so simple it doesn't need its own recipe.
Take your favorite sugar cookie dough, roll it out and cut into hearts.
Bake as directed and spread Nutella over one heart, then top with another heart.

Jam Hearts: Same as above, just use good quality seedless jam instead of Nutella.
I like to cut a little "Window" out of half of the hearts (the ones that will go on top)
so the jam shows through like a Linzer cookie. Then dust with powdered sugar.

"Pink Lady" Cupcakes: Using the Strawberry Butter Cake recipe, make into cupcakes and frost with Whipped Strawberry Buttercream

Red and White Swirl Cupcakes: Make your favorite cupcake recipe and white frosting (I used Whipped Butter Rum Frosting for this - it is tasty and sophisticated).Get a pastry bag and paint 3-4 stripes of red food coloring inside the bag (from the tip outward). Then fill the pastry bag with the white frosting and choose any decorator tip you like. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and it will come out with both red and white swirls. Top with store-bought heart candies.

Sinful Chocolate Buttercream

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

Baker's Calendar

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I love any excuse to bake, so I have what I fondly call my "Baker's Calendar." This list reminds me of the various holidays, change of seasons, and events coming up. If you're like me, you can use these events as an excuse to try out new recipes and dig up old favorites. Obviously any old weekday can also be a baking day, but these allow you to bake with a THEME in mind! :)

My baking calendar goes like this:

New Year's
Valentine's Day
Mardi Gras
St. Patrick's Day
Maple Tapping Season
Easter/Start of Spring
Cinco de Mayo
Mother's Day
Start of Summer
Father's Day
Fourth of July
Kids' birthdays (mine happen to be summer babies)
End of Summer
Back to School
Autumn / Apple and Pumpkin season
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Gingerbread House Season
Christmas / Hanukkah

Gluttony at 40,000ft: Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Experience

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Virgin's In-Flight Walk-Up Bar

A few months ago I had the incredible pleasure of taking a business trip to London. It was a trip of "firsts:" the first time I had been in a city during the Olympic Games, the first time I'd been working for a UK-based company, and the first time I had the privilege of flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. Sure, there are lie-flat seats, free pajamas and a full, backlit bar complete with bartender and barstools, but more importantly there was great food both in-flight and post-flight at Virgin's Upper Class Lounge. Check it out below.

Boarding the Upper Deck, the first thing you hit is the walk-up bar, where a bartender is pouring pre-flight glasses of champagne and Mimosas. I opted out and went to my seat to settle in. Sadly, I had intentions of heading back to the bar but never made it. Maybe next time. Regardless it was a total #InFlightFAIL.

Upper Class Menu

Once I got to my seat, the first thing I noticed was the menu. It was huge. After nearly a decade of business travel on American Airlines, on whose planes you're lucky if you get a seat that stays put (let alone an edible meal), I was just floored to see the passion and creativity that Virgin Atlantic had put into the menu. As a professional strategic planner by day and personal dinner party "thrower" (technical term?) by night, I was even more excited to see how integrated the whole experience was. Heading to London? Why not have an afternoon tea service complete with miniature cake stands for each guest? For the night owls, it makes perfect sense to offer a full dining experience but about passengers who sleep through dinner? That's where the "Graze" menu comes in, offering off-hour guests mini beef burgers, a "Coronation" chicken salad, and vegetarian sushi selection. Pure genius and truly consumer-centric, something that Virgin clearly prioritizes. But enough geeking out at the experiential marketing; let's get back to the food.

Amuse Bouche: Pesto Puree with Breadsticks

Sit down at your seat and you better hope you're hungry. Granted, service is spread out over about 8 hours, but there's a lot of pomp and circumstance before you even take your first bite. Flight attendants first need to set your table by pulling a hidden slot out of your cubby's wall, sliding it over your lap and adorning it with a cloth placemat, flatware, silver salt and pepper shakers, and cloth napkin. Need to get up during the amuse bouche, appetizer, dinner or dessert service? No problem. Just slide your table down towards your feet and you've got plenty of room to stand up. Very ergonomically correct, if I may say so.

Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

Thai Chicken Curry

Once you're all set up, Virgin's service seemingly goes on forever. First, there's an amuse bouche -- ours was a pesto puree with breadsticks (above) -- followed by your choice of Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup (left) or Smoked Salmon for starters.

Need a cocktail with your food? Choose from a full bar of high-end liquors and spirits. then a main course selection of Grilled Filet of Beef, Thai Chicken Curry or English Pea and Mint Tortellini with assorted breads. Our flight had Rosemary Focaccia and Pumpernickel. One of each, please.

Don't forget wine pairings! Flight attendants come around with a four-pack wine carrier, offering up varietals like a Spanish Rioja, Italian Barbera, Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and Argentinian Malbec. How did I choose? Well, the last time I flew to London it was en route to Italy with Bryan, so I opted for the Italian varietal. Maybe it was the in-cabin pressure but it was delightful.

My Barbera was perfect with dessert, a warm chocolate and salted caramel pudding. It was eithe that or an apricot raspberry almond tart with creme anglaise.

About 30 minutes after dessert you start to think everything's calming down and you can turn in for a six-hour snooze, but the flight attendant's haven't had the last laugh. They literally roll through the cabin with a wine, cheese and Port cart. No joke. It's hard to stomach (pun intended) the thought of more food at that point, but I decided to take one for the team. I could only imagine Bryan's disappointment to hear I passed up cheese and Port at 40,000 feet. I couldn't let him down. Yup. That's my rationale and I'm sticking to it.

Finally, it's time for bed. Your flight attendant makes that for you, too. There's a full-on mattress pad, sheet, fluffy duvet and pillow. You can adjust your personal TV screen to sit right in front of your face, providing in-flight entertainment until you lull yourself into dreamland. Better yet, if you wake up to use the restroom, your return to find your "bed" has been remade. I was a little surprised they didn't offer to tuck each passenger in.

When it's time to wake up, at least on the way back to LA, it's mid-day. That means no breakfast at 2pm. So what does Virgin Atlantic dream up instead? A full afternoon tea service. Flight attendants bring a cart to each passenger's pod and offer fresh tea as well as a overflowing selection of tea sandwiches and pastries. Better yet, the attendant arranges said goodies on individual tiered cake stands for each passenger. Our flight's sandwiches included ham and chutney, tuna and sweet corn, and cucumber with dill mayonnaise. A warm sultana scone came with refreshing clotted cream and strawberry jam while the "cake stand" included miniature chocolate eclairs, black currant and almond sponge cake as well as a selection of macarons. It was heavenly; in-flight gluttony at its best. Shortly after your afternoon tea service, your flight lands and you're wheeled off the plane about 20 pounds heavier. Not true, but I can say I was especially grateful for a long walk through Heathrow Airport to customs.

Traditional English Breakfast at Heathrow's VA Upper Class Lounge

That's all the in-flight experience but there's one more perk: Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Lounge at Heathrow. If you ever find yourself with a ticket to this lounge, get there early. Like five hours early. Not because there are lines but because you're never going to want to leave. Better yet, call ahead and book a massage, a facial or a body wrap. Men can relax and refresh in the barber shop; other guests either lingered over cocktails at one of two glowing bars or collapsed onto huge personal leather sectionals, each offering a pair of Bose headphones to listen to music or watch a 20' TV. I couldn't leave London without trying a traditional English breakfast, so I perused the menu found at everyone's seat and gave my order to a passing waiter. The same waiter who was offering every guest champagne and Bellinis. Once you're settled, you don't have to move. I nearly fell asleep and missed my flight to LA, but I knew better. Eleven more hours of gluttony was about to begin.

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Let's Talk Turkey

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This Thanksgiving, Bird is the Word.
Photo: LA Times

No matter how much menu planning you do, a successful Thanksgiving meal really comes down to one thing: The Turkey. No, I'm not talking about the uncle who drinks too much Wild Turkey and acts like one. I'm talking about the piÃ¨ce de rÃ©sistance, the show-stopper, the whole enchilada: The BIRD.

Whether your turkey is fresh, free-range, frozen, brined, smoked, grilled, fried or roasted, here are five ways to make sure your bird gets your guests' ultimate seal of approval: an empty plate.

DAY #1 OF THANKSGIVING RECIPES: LETS TALK TURKEY

1. SMOKE AND BRINED (pictured above, right)
Los Angeles Chef Quinn Hatfield told the Los Angeles Times he brines his turkey for 36 hours in a mixture of water, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, crushed garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme. After the allotted 36 hours, the turkey air dries for at least an hour before being smoked in Hatfield's Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. Smoke the turkey at 300-325 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (about one hour for every four pounds of turkey).

Grilled Turkey with Toasted Fennel and Coriander
Photo: BonAppetit.com

2. GRILLED TURKEY WITH TOASTED FENNEL AND CORIANDER (pictured, left)
This bird gets rubbed down in a mixture of toasted fennel seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns and coarse salt before being grilled on a bed of carrots, celery, parsnips, onion and thyme.

3. CITRUS-MARINATED TURKEY
Jose Garces contributed this turkey recipe to Food and Wine, preparing it in the same style as a traditional YucatÃ¡n dish called cochinita pibil, a slow-roasted pork marinated in citrus and annatto paste (made from achiote seeds, the condiment adds an orange hue to foods). Brining and marinating the bird make it especially succulent.

4. TUSCAN-STYLE TURKEY ALLA PORCHETTA

Turkey Alla Porchetta
Photo: MarthaStewart.com

This Italian-style turkey (pictured, right) gets its inspiration from Porchetta, a tightly-rolled deboned pork roast and stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel and other wild herbs. This turkey version is rolled in paper-thin slices of prosciutto, giving it extra moisture and decadence.

5. TOM COLICCHIO'S HERB BUTTER TURKEY
The Top Chef host's extra-moist turkey gets a flavor boost from herbed butter applied in copious amounts under the turkey's skin. While the turkey oven roasts and the butter melts, your house will be filled with the amazing aroma of thyme, tarragon, rosemary and sage.

24 Şubat 2013 Pazar

New Year's Day Brunch

Recipe for Traditional Cream SconesHow to brew proper cup of Tea Great Coffee Cakes you can make ahead:

Almond Coffee CakeI also make a cranberry almond coffee cake by adding one cup chopped fresh cranberries to this recipe.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Lemon Coffee Cake Muffins can also be made ahead and are a healthier option:

Zucchini Spice / Carrot Spice Muffins

Apple Breakfast Muffins

Sugar 'N' Spice Muffins (okay, so these ones are not as healthy as the ones above, but they are my favorite!) Or do traditional breakfast fare with these Homemade Pancakes:

Homemade Pancakes

Easy Valentine's Day Treats

Bon-Bons and Cake Truffles

"Pink Lady" Cupcakes: Using the Strawberry Butter Cake recipe, make into cupcakes and frost with Whipped Strawberry Buttercream

Sinful Chocolate Buttercream

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

Baker's Calendar

Greens and Bacon Quiche

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I always forget how easy and delicious quiche is, especially if you use a pre-made crust from the grocery. I like the sort that comes rolled up in the refrigerated section; the package isn't too big, so you can stash it in the freezer until the mood strikes. Quiche is also a great way to use up whatever veggies, cheeses, and/or meats that are hanging out in the fridge. In this case, I had both spinach and chard from our CSA box, as well as part of a package of bacon. (Yes, I know that The Enchanted Broccoli Forest is a vegetarian cookbook, but I couldn't resist!) This quiche is definitely on the rich side, even using skim milk, and makes a really delicious dinner. Do be sure the center is really cooked through (not jiggly) before pulling it out of the oven - mine was a bit underdone, but still very tasty.

Greens and Bacon Quiche (adapted from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest)
Serves 4-6

Pie crust for one 9-inch pie plate
1/3 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated
5 slices bacon, chopped into small squares
2 shallots, minced
1 bunch red chard, trimmed and chopped
1 bunch spinach, trimmed and chopped
4 eggs
1-1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp Aleppo chile flakes
Salt and pepper

1. Fit the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Scatter the cheese over the crust, and then set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon, and cook until just crisp, stirring often. Transfer to a paper towel to drain, leaving the fat in the pan.
4. Add the onions, and saute until translucent. Add the chard, and saute until the greens are just starting to wilt. Add in the spinach, and continue to cook until the greens are all wilted. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined strainer and let drain for a few minutes. Once they're cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and chile flakes. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Assemble the quiche. On top of the cheddar cheese, layer on the bacon, followed by the greens. Be sure to fluff the greens up a little so they aren't overly compressed in the quiche. Pour over the egg-milk mixture.
7. Bake 40-45 minutes, until firm. Cool about 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

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If you are a blogger, you probably also have lots of posts lying in wait - perhaps you have a photo but haven't typed up the recipe or description, or maybe it's a post that just has some ideas written down that haven't come together yet. Whatever the case, these 'draft posts' can sit around basically forever until you go digging through them!

This morning, I was looking back through these posts and found this fantastic recipe for chicken tortilla soup that is probably at least a couple of years old! It's definitely time for it to see the light of day, because I can still remember it and it was delicious. My notes on this post say that I made this soup with my dad. That's no surprise, because he is probably the biggest fan of chicken tortilla soup that I know! This one is simple to put together and really hits the spot - juicy chicken, smoky flavor from the chipotle in adobo, a great hit of acid from the limes, and of course plenty of crispy baked tortilla strips. Although I often turn to regular chicken noodle soup when someone is sick, I think this soup would also be a perfect pick-me-up if you're feeling under the weather - comfort in a bowl!

Also - note in the photo below the fantastic cabbage-shaped bowls my dad found...so much fun!

Chicken Tortilla Soup (adapted from Meals in Heels, original recipe here)
Serves 6

4 corn tortillas
2 T olive oil
1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp minced chipotle in adobo (more to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
14 ounce can whole tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Juice of 2 limes
Cilantro leaves, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with oil. Cut the tortillas into thin strips, and lay them out on the baking sheet in a single layer. Spray the tops with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake about 3 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two, until fragrant. Add the chipotles, cumin, tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a boil.
3. Add the chicken to the pot. Reduce heat to low, and simmer about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken and let cool until you can comfortably handle it. Shred with two forks, or chop into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the chicken.
4. Puree the soup - an immersion blender is easiest, but a regular blender will get the job done as well (just be careful!). Once the soup is smooth, add the reserved chicken and the lime juice. Reheat until the liquid is hot and the chicken is heated through.
5. Serve topped with the tortilla strips and fresh cilantro.

23 Şubat 2013 Cumartesi

New Year's Day Brunch

Recipe for Traditional Cream SconesHow to brew proper cup of Tea Great Coffee Cakes you can make ahead:

Almond Coffee CakeI also make a cranberry almond coffee cake by adding one cup chopped fresh cranberries to this recipe.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Lemon Coffee Cake Muffins can also be made ahead and are a healthier option:

Zucchini Spice / Carrot Spice Muffins

Apple Breakfast Muffins

Sugar 'N' Spice Muffins (okay, so these ones are not as healthy as the ones above, but they are my favorite!) Or do traditional breakfast fare with these Homemade Pancakes:

Homemade Pancakes