TWD - Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

About, oh, 25 minutes into the baking of this lovely cake, I realized that I had omitted the leavening. In this recipe, leavening is not optional. 

I was all prepared to weigh in on fresh vs. crystalized ginger, adding chocolate to a classic, choosing the right pan size, etc. But that's kind of pointless when your gingerbread looks like this:

So, even though it was not cracked or even puffy as Dorie said it might be, it smelled divine while it was baking. The texture is a little off (hey, like me!) but the flavor is fantastic. I didn't find stem ginger and I was lazy so I didn't add the crystalized ginger I bought for this cake. Oh, and I didn't make the frosting, because hey, it's a flop. You know the old expression that came up during the presidential campaign, the one about putting lipstick on a pig? That would be frosting a cake that didn't rise that has the texture of a sponge, a tasty sponge, but a sponge nonetheless.

Check out what the other TWD bakers did here. They added leavening, and have the beautiful puffy cakes to prove it. And please visit Heather at Sherry Trifle for the recipe.

Barefoot Bloggers - Easy Sticky Buns

I'm in! And what a great recipe to start cooking along with the other Barefoot Bloggers! This talented group is cooking through the recipes of Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame.

These cinnamon rolls looked so ridiculously easy that I made them this morning before work. Yes, truly. If you want to induce rapture in your coworkers, bring in these cinnamon rolls. You start with frozen puff pastry and end with rolls that aren't soft and pillowy but delightfully crisp and chewy. I wish I had captured their stunning beauty when they came out of the oven, but I was trying really hard not to be more than a half hour late for work. I did get a quick photo with my phone before everyone devoured them.

My deepest thanks to Melissa at Made By Melissa for this wonderful pick! (Yes, that is the top of my Tupperware cereal bowl, I know, my styling is pathetic!) If you'd like the recipe, stop by and visit Melissa.

CEiMB - Chicken Cacciatore

This week, Craving Ellie in My Belly was making the Chicken Cacciatore from The Foods You Crave by Ellie Krieger. Peggy at Pantry Revisited chose for us this week.

I love chicken cacciatore. I love mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and chicken, and I love them together. I was really looking forward to making this recipe. I did make a few changes. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, added extra onions and mushrooms, and I used sliced cremini mushrooms. I used chicken broth instead of wine, and added quite a bit of salt and pepper since it seemed to want seasoning.

We had this over brown rice and it was...OK. I wanted it to be more assertively flavored, so I would probably add smoked spanish paprika if I were to make the recipe again. That won't be necessary for a while since it made enough for at least eight servings. 

Please check out what the other CEiMB cooks did here.

Inaugural Muffins

Sorry, I didn't bake with the other TWD bakers this week. I did make the Coffee Break Muffins from Baking From My Home to Yours. I don't know if President Obama likes coffee or muffins, but Mr. President, these muffins are for you. Thank you for giving us hope.

TWD - Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Tuesdays with Dorie is a group of bakers who are baking through Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. The bakers take turns picking the recipe for the week and we all post on Tuesdays (hence the name).

Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake (one of my faves!) chose this week's recipe, Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins. I was looking forward to this one, not just because we've been craving a savory break from all of the sweets, but because I love corn muffins. I used a stone ground corn meal, thinking it would make the muffins rustic. Since I was sharing these with visitors who may or may not like spicy food, I omitted the jalapeno. I used a ground Ancho chile powder, and added about a half teaspoon of cumin to round out the flavor. I increased the corn (I used frozen) to about 3/4 cup. I also subbed fat free yogurt for the buttermilk. I popped them in the oven and waited eagerly for them to come out. They baked for about 19 minutes. I tasted one right after I took them out of the oven (ouch!) Hmm...

They were kind of disappointing. The flavor was...muddled. The jalapeno would have helped, and adding cheddar would have helped a lot. The worst part was the stone ground corn meal was gritty and didn't add a great texture. The corn meal was less gritty the following day, but the extra day dried out the corn so that it was almost desiccated. Maybe fresh corn would hold up better.

Check out the other TWD bakers here. They had better results than I did, and they reported that the muffins were fantastic with chili. I would try these again, stick with the recipe, using buttermilk, jalapenos and less corn, plus skipping the cumin. It's possible I made too many changes and it blanded out the flavors.

CEiMB - Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly pick was chosen by Jennifer at Running with Food. I am not a huge fried rice fan, but I was eager to try Ellie's version since it seemed to have a good balance of veggies and rice.

I made two substitutions: I used shrimp instead of tofu (I had some I needed to use up) and mini sweet peppers instead of the red bell pepper (Safeway was out of bell peppers?!?) I actually made the recipe a few minutes ago so I could take it to work for my lunch.

The verdict? Delicious! I liked the look of the dish before I added the soy sauce, but flavor was terrific. This is a lunch I'm going to look forward to eating, and when you're trying to lose weight, liking your food is key to staying on your plan. Many thanks to Jennifer for picking a real winner!

Make sure you check out the other CEiMB cooks here. We're all cooking from Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave. It's an awesome book filled with healthy AND delicious recipes.

Next week's pick is Beef Tenderloin. I'm not a beef fan so I'll sit that one out, but I'll be back for the Chicken Cacciatore the following week.

TWD - French Pear Tart

Today's Tuesdays with Dorie selection is a very special one indeed. It was chosen by Dorie Greenspan, whose book Baking From My Home to Yours started our fearless founder Laurie on the path to this wonderful group of bakers.

I admit a bias to all things French, and have enjoyed pear tarts many times in Paris. The combination of buttery crust, frangipane filling and the buttery taste of the pears is a wonderful combination. I was thrilled when this pick was announced, not just because Dorie picked it, but because it's been two years since our last trip to France and a girl just needs her tarts, ya know?

The recipe gave the option of using canned pears, poaching pears or using fresh, ripe pears. I had an amazingly busy weekend, so I went the lazy route. Dorie explains in the recipe that French bakeries use canned pears, which made me feel better. The tart shell came together easily in the food processor, and I divided it between six 4" tart shells. In hindsight, I think it would have been better to make four or five of them as the crust was a little bit thinner than I like. I popped them in the freezer for the requisite half hour before blind baking them and made the almond cream filling. Since I was well established on the lazy route, I used ground almonds rather than making my own. The ground almonds gave the filling a rustic look that I really like.

The next morning, I let the almond cream sit out until it was spreadable, sliced the pears, assembled the tarts and baked them off. They baked for 42 minutes in a 325 oven on the convection bake cycle. The filling puffs up and browns as it bakes. Mmm...fresh pear tarts... OK, I admit it, I had half of one of these for breakfast. But they looked and smelled so good...I know you all understand.

The verdict: this is my favorite Dorie recipe to date (and the cheesecake was hard to beat!) The crust is so buttery, the filling crunchy and chewy at the same time, and the pears are the little jewels of sweetness that crown these two tasty components. Unlike most desserts, every bite is better than the one before.

Check out what the other TWD bakers did here. They inspire me every week. You can find the recipe on Dorie's site.  An extra special treat is here--Dorie answering all our random questions from the last year. Thanks to Dorie for the book that inspires us all, and thanks to Laurie for starting (and all the work to maintain) this group. This tart's for you!

CEiMB - Triple Chocolate Cookies

I am such a slacker! These cookies have been on my to do list for ages, and I just got around to making them this morning. After tasting them, I'm kicking myself for waiting so long!

The Triple Chocolate Cookies were chosen by Gabi of The Feast Within. This was actually last week's recipe. The recipe calls for dark and milk chocolate in addition to cocoa. I'm not a milk chocolate lover so I subbed Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips (and I used bittersweet chips since I was feeling lazy). I have a lot of walnuts on hand so I used them instead of pecans. Otherwise, I went with the recipe as written.

I got a few more than the 24 cookies Ellie says it yields. I used my smallest scoop and a knife to level it off, so maybe I was scooping smaller cookies. They baked in exactly 12 minutes on convection bake at 325 degrees (I froze a dozen for later baking). I let them sit a few minutes on a rack, and then sampled one. There is nothing better than a warm chocolate cookie! These were luscious with the melty chocolate chips and the crunch of the walnuts. The flavor was rich and balanced, and the salt was a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the chocolate. 

While I was munching on another cookie (and another, and another...), it occurred to me why I like Ellie's recipes so much. She leaves in the components that add the big flavor punch, and scales down on or replaces the ones that don't affect flavor or texture. If you hadn't told me, I never would have known this was a "lighter" recipe.

If you want to cook along with us, we're cooking (and baking) from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. Everything I have made from this cookbook has been great, even brussels sprouts, which I hadn't eaten since I left home several decades ago. They, and rutabaga, were my childhood revulsion foods. While I won't claim to be a brussels sprouts fan now, I was able to eat, and even enjoy, them without retching. If Ellie can do that, making a delicious cookie that's lower in fat and sugar is easy!

Check out what the other CEiMB cooks did here.

TWD - Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Tall and Creamy Cheesecake, was chosen by Anne at Anne Strawberry. I was already a huge fan of Anne's blog so I was very excited to see what she would chose when it was her turn. Normally, cheesecake is not my favorite dessert. I usually find it too heavy and high cholesterol is an issue for both M and I. If I'm going to rocket my LDL up a notch, I prefer to do it with decadent cookies like these or these. But Anne chose this one and, on top of that, I missed so many weeks of TWD while the kitchen was being renovated that I wanted to do this one.

I opted to make it plain (the "basic" option Dorie offers). The recipe gives the baker the flexibility to use sour cream, heavy cream or a combination. Many of the other bakers opted for sour cream or a combination as they wanted the tanginess. I figured the cream cheese would give me a nice tang and opted for all heavy cream. The recipe was the easiest I've ever made. The crust (graham cracker) was a cinch, and the filling (which Dorie instructs should be beaten a long time) was a snap. My cheesecake lightly browned on top but did not crack. I cooled completely before putting it in the refrigerator overnight.

The verdict? We LOVED this cheesecake! It was creamy and rich, but without the clumps of fat sticking to the roof of your mouth like denser cheesecake recipes (sorry to be gross!) It was a huge hit at work, with many people saying it was better than Cheesecake Factory, and others saying comparing this cheesecake to CF was an insult to my cheesecake! I plan to make this one again, like, soon. I'm thinking about making it espresso flavored with a chocolate cookie crust.

Thanks to Anne for choosing this recipe and opening my eyes to how great cheesecake can be. If you'd like the recipe, I'd encourage you to pick up the book we're all baking from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or you can get the recipe on Anne's website here. Check out what the other TWD bakers did here. Even though TWD was closed to new bakers on 10/31/08, Laurie has generously opened it up to new bakers until 1/1/09 in honor of TWD's one year anniversary. If you'd like to join us, here's how you do it.

Dreams really can come true

The kitchen is finished.

Incredible but true. Yes, there are minor touch-ups needed, but compared to where it came from, this kitchen is ready for its close up. Recall that it started here:

Ta-da!

So many of you have offered kind words of support and encouragement while this project was going on. Your messages and emails have lifted and supported me and I am so grateful.

I'm big on analyzing what I learn. My short list of advice for kitchen dreamers or remodelers is (in no particular order):

1.  Double your budget. No, really. You're going to be shocked at how much things like drawer pulls cost, not to mention lighting, appliances, sinks, etc. We had to replace our electrical panel before doing anything else. Double your budget and then be ready to exceed it.

2.  Embrace camping. I camped when I was a kid and a teenager, but not in the last 30-odd years. Being without a kitchen is a lot like camping, except you don't go down to the stream to rinse your dishes, you run into the bathroom (or to your laundry sink, if you have one). Thinking about this as an adventure will help you stay in a good mood while you're living with the refrigerator in the dining room and the microwave on the foyer table. 

3.  This is not the time to be green. At least it wasn't for me. I drive a Prius, turn the thermostat way down and recycle everything I can. I gave away the appliances but I bought a big stack of paper plates and paper cups and a box of plastic forks, knives and spoons, and used them without guilt. You're living in a construction zone and washing the few dishes you have to wash is a pain. Give yourself a break.

4.  Research. I obsessively research big ticket and technology items I purchase. I did the same with many components that I considered for the kitchen. I read books, magazines, searched websites, talked to others who had renovated, etc. One regret was not getting my contractor involved sooner. He would have steered me away from buying my granite at Home Depot, and that would have been a good thing.

5.  Your grill is your friend. We grilled at least half of our meals (the remainder was about 30% takeout and 20% stuff from Trader Joe's that could be reheated in the microwave). You can use your grill as an oven (I toyed with baking brownies in there but came to my senses). I would grill a bunch of chicken breasts, shrimp, fish, vegetables, etc. and we'd eat it for several days with various tricks to make it seem like we were eating something different. 

6.  Watch tons of kitchen remodeling shows on TV. I Tivo'd every episode of Spice Up My Kitchen on HGTV. Visit open houses in your area to see other kitchens. You may not find anything you like, but you may see things you DON'T want to do in your kitchen.

7.  Think about the future. How long do you plan to live in the house? If you're planning on selling it in the near future, you'll make different decisions (i.e., less expensive) than if you plan to stay in the house for many years. I chose a 6 burner pro-style cooktop, not because it will add value to the house but because I sometimes need more than 4 burners. The cooktop I chose has extra-low simmer on every burner, something that my old stove only had on one burner.

8.  Ask for samples. You won't get a sample cabinet door for more than a couple of days, but you can request samples of your countertop material, tile, paint, and cabinet hardware. I traveled with the granite sample in my purse for weeks, "visiting" other components to see if they got along with each other.

9.  Create a project binder. I put together a binder with pocket dividers and used it to take notes, store photos taken from magazines, receipts, plans, etc. It was invaluable. You won't believe how much stuff you'll end up with.

10.  Download appliance information from the Internet. Once you've picked your appliances, go to the manufacturer's website. You can find owner's manuals and, more importantly for your contractor, schematics.  Your contractor needs to know the EXACT measurements of each appliance. I printed off the schematics for all of the appliances and gave them to him and the designer. They were both very grateful. 

11.  Work with a real designer. I used Possibility Kitchens in San Jose. Kate came to my house numerous times while she was working on the design. Home Depot doesn't come to the house to design. Possibility Kitchens charges the same for the cabinets as Home Depot (and their design service is free with the order of the cabinets), but they give more personal service. We made a lot of discoveries working through the plans while standing in the kitchen. I know I wouldn't have gotten everything I wanted if we designed it on the computer in Home Depot.

12.  Be prepared. I carried a retractable cloth measuring tape in my purse for months. Ditto the digital camera and a small notepad. I wanted to capture images of the appliances, surfaces, sinks, etc. that I was seeing. Measurements were very important...we designed a 12" x 24" space for the microwave, and I had to buy a microwave not for its features but its size. 

13.  Think Frank. M says that the theme song of the new kitchen is "I Did it My Way" by Frank Sinatra. While I ran things by him, we had a silent understanding that I was going to pick what I wanted. I deliberately didn't shop with friends because their taste may have influenced my choices. I wanted M to see the cabinets (which we chose together from a catalog) before I ordered them because it was such a big ticket item that I wanted to be 110% sure.

14.  Think outside the box. I used the kitchen project as an opportunity to rework the family room. It's adjacent to the kitchen, and I put in a cabinet for the electronics. We put it on a furniture base and gave it a furniture top, so it doesn't look like a kitchen cabinet. We also replaced the window in the family room, making it bigger and more energy efficient. Now we have a better view of the garden and a whole lot more light in what used to be a dark room.

So maybe this isn't such a short list, but hopefully it will help others who are considering the exciting and scary world of kitchen remodels. 

CEiMB - Curried Butternut Squash Soup

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was Curried Butternut Squash Soup. It was chosen by Meet Me in the Kitchen. I love butternut squash soup so I was eager to try Ellie's spin on it. I made it tonight, not intentionally for dinner but wound up making it dinner. It was so easy to make, and all I had to buy for it was the squash and an extra can of chicken broth!

How did it turn out? Good! Fortunately I love spicy food, so the level of curry wasn't too much for me. If I make it again, I think I'll cut back on the curry powder, or maybe use a sweet curry instead. The other thing I would do differently is not use the emulsion blender to puree it. It would have been less trouble, and faster, to do it in batches in the food processor.

In order to turn it into dinner, I added some leftover roasted vegetables and a small dollop of fat free sour cream. Even with those additions, it was still very spicy. That's the photo I'm posting, because on its own, this soup was brown in a bowl. 

If you're interested in what the other bloggers did this week, check out Craving Ellie in My Belly. We're cooking one recipe a week from The Foods You Crave by Ellie Krieger.

TWD - Buttery Jam "Cakies"

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Buttery Jam Cookies, chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl. You know how you can look at a recipe and imagine how the result will taste? I didn't get that from this recipe.

The recipe calls for jam, which is mixed in before the dry ingredients. The TWD bakers reported that dark colored jams (like blackberry) turned the cookies an odd grayish-purple. I considered using the recommended apricot jam, but was drawn to a jar of Trader Joe's Apple Cranberry Chutney I keep in the refrigerator. It's a tad spicy and not very sweet. 

I was pleased with the result, even if it wasn't exactly what I expected. My cookies turned out not flakey as Dorie said they would, but cakey. They don't spread at all when baked, so you really need to squish them down before baking. But the flavor with the chutney was great-delicate but noticeable. 

Would I make them again? Probably not. Maybe it was because they came at the end of a chocolate-free baking binge. Maybe we're cookied-out in TWD land. Maybe I'm dreaming of the brown sugar brown butter shorties I made during the same baking binge...

Check out what the other TWD bakers did here. And if you're interested in the recipe, you can find it on Heather's website here.

Brown sugar brown butter shorties and other stories

The kitchen is coming along nicely. The tile is finished and looks spectacular, and with it done, I really can start cooking in the kitchen. I mean, I think I can but I didn't ask. Because, you know, I want to cook!

I saw these brown sugar brown butter shorties on Smitten Kitchen and drooled over them the whole week while the kitchen was closed to cooking. This morning, I woke up early and was browning butter by 6:30 AM. I planned to bake cookies and make a couple of other things, and I didn't change out of my pajamas until about 7 PM (and only then because I had to take the trash out to the curb). It was a high energy baking/cooking/unpacking kitchen boxes day. It is so me to do all things at the same time, mess up some of them, and finish nothing. After baking, cooking and putting things away in the kitchen, I only need to wash the rest of the dishes. My back was killing me after going for 14 hours so I decided to take a break and tell you about these spectacular cookies!

These brown sugar brown butter shorties are to die for. Save yourself and don't make them. Because if you do, you'll taste the dough and be unable to stop eating it. Then you'll get curious about how the cookies taste BAKED, so you'll stop and bake off a dozen or so. Then you'll eat more than your share of those. They'll call your name all day long. You'll have a couple for lunch (great), test them out with a cup of tea (great) and as dessert after dinner (great). You'll wish you had more left to share with others. If you double the recipe like I did, you'll have a fat roll of dough in the refrigerator, waiting for the right person to share them with (M is out of town but I plan to make him some when he gets home). You'll marvel that a cookie can taste this good without any chocolate.

 I also made Manchamantel, a nice chicken dish, for dinner. I found the recipe in Clean Eating magazine (you can find it here), and it was deeply flavorful and surprisingly healthy (good thing since I ate my weight in cookies earlier in the day). I oven roasted vegetables for the week. I made a big mess doing all of this but it was fun. 

CEiMB - I'm so behind!

With the kitchen shut down all week for tiling the backsplash, I not only didn't get caught up with Craving Ellie in My Belly, I got even more behind! I was going to make the Jewel Roasted Vegetables and then tackle the Cornmeal Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart, but there was no way. All week long, the only part of the kitchen I could use was one refrigerator door. I plan to get back on track next week with the Curried Butternut Squash Soup (it looks YUMMY!)

Tuesdays with Dorie - Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein. I was initially not terribly excited about a sugar cookie recipe, and to be honest, I considered using my kitchen renovation as a justification for not baking this week. But I did have use of the kitchen this weekend, and I decided to play with the recipe as Dorie suggested and see what I could come up with. I considered rolling the cookie dough in chopped hazelnuts or almonds, or even in chopped flake coconut or cocoa nibs (which I rejected after tasting them-too bitter), but I kept coming back to this wonderful Vietnamese cinnamon from Penzey's. It's very spicy and aromatic, so I probably only added 1/4 teaspoon to the dry ingredients. The recipe is super quick to make. Some of the TWD bakers had trouble with the dough being sticky, so I tried to handle it as little as possible. I finished adding the dry ingredients with a spatula so I wouldn't over mix it. Since I was going to do slice and bake cookies, I plopped the dough on to two pieces of plastic wrap and tried to form it into two perfectly round logs. Well, I tried. My logs were more elliptical. The dough was then refrigerated for two hours before baking.

Before slicing the logs, I rolled them in turbinado sugar. I sliced them about 1/4" thick and got three dozen (the recipe said it yields 50 cookies, so maybe my logs were a little chubby). I pressed one side of some of the cookies in chopped almonds before baking. They baked for 9 minutes at 325 degrees in a convection oven (the recipe called for 350).

I loved these cookies! I was so surprised by the hint of cinnamon and the crunch of the turbinado sugar. The sweetness of the cookie was nicely balanced by the salt the recipe called for. I thought it was a terrific cookie, and friends I shared them with agreed. I will definitely use this recipe in the future, and I do plan to make a coconut variation. The next time I use nuts, I will toast them in the oven before using them as the 9 minute baking time wasn't enough to punch up their flavor. If you want the recipe, check out Ulrike's blog. And visit some of the other TWD bakers here. They are a creative and inspiring group of people.

FOLLOW UP 12/14/08:

I baked a batch of these with coconut extract and rolled them in toasted coconut before baking. The coconut flavor was understated, except in the ones I also pressed the tops in the toasted coconut. I prefer the cinnamon version I made, but am glad I tried these in coconut.