The miracle ingredient ~ and Joanna's kefir bread

My little girl has been having tummy troubles for a while, although we've only recently realized that she's probably had some version of acid-reflux for quite a long time. I thought she was just burping incessantly to annoy me (bad mother award!). Her doctor prescribed antacids, which seemed to do the trick; but after a month or so, I began to get concerned about giving a five year old antacids twice a day...if we even missed one dose, she was back to burping and tummy discomfort. Were we supposed to do it forever? But my research indicated that long-term use could cause all sorts of problems.

Browsing online, I looked for natural helps for acid reflux, and a common one was chewing gum after meals. So we tried that. It seemed to work okay, although not quite as efficiently as the antacids. And then I thought, isn't it crazy after all of our work to switch to real foods to be giving my daughter something that is nothing but chemicals twice a day? *sigh*

Finally, I was talking to my girl friend, and she mentioned that when her little one was having GI problems, they tried kefir and the problems cleared right up. Ke-what? I'd never heard of kefir. I started researching, reading, questioning, and it truly seemed like the miracle ingredient: cures acid reflux, any tummy troubles, some even claim diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer.... Will it clean my house?! Just kidding. But seriously, I couldn't find any negatives of drinking kefir anywhere. So we bought some; I was skeptical that she would drink it, but she did and she loved it and it seemed to make her feel better. And it contained a lot of sugar. And was something like $4 for a tiny little bottle that only lasted us a couple of days, and that was only if the rest of us didn't have any.

So back to research. I discovered that if you got some healthy grains, you could make kefir yourself, and then you could decide how to flavor it and how much sugar to add...and it reproduces eternally, as long as you do it right, so you don't have to keep buying it. I purchased some milk grains from the KefirLady. It was harder than I thought; at first, it tasted and smelled really funky and we had to toss jar after jar. But after a week, I tried rinsing the grains and then I bought some fancy organic whole milk instead of grocery store 2% milk. And sure enough, we immediately noticed a difference.

Adding fresh milk; kefir grains on the left

Since then, we've been producing about 3 cups a day, enough for all of us to have kefir smoothies once a day, and for me to make "kefiracles" (extra kefir smoothies frozen in popsicle molds). But because kefir needs to be made daily (gotta feed those hungry grains!), if we miss a day of smoothies, I end up with extra kefir.

And wouldn't you know it, right as I had an extra batch of kefir, Joanna posted this recipe for date syrup kefir bread! Well, that was meant to be, wasn't it? Jo helpfully suggested that I could use honey (I didn't have any date syrup), and I got to work, following her instructions and bread formula. I made the preferment and left it to bubble for 18 hours. It's a little shocking to use kefir, water, flour, and honey, and have it bubble...with no yeast or sourdough starter.

Joanna's formula worked perfectly for me (I used part KAF bread flour and part KAF white whole wheat) ~ and it made a nice, supple, soft, slightly tacky dough. It smelled just like a sourdough. Like sourdough, it took a long time on its first rise; for a while, I wondered if it was even rising. But when I did stretch-and-folds, I could feel the dough deflate, so I knew there was some rising going on. I pulled out my old round banneton and shaped the dough into a boule (haven't done that in ages!). I was expecting another long rise, but the dough filled the basket in only about 90 minutes.

Eggs-in-a-nest for breakfast...made from fresh kefir bread!

I used an egg wash, and baked it for...probably about 40 minutes? First at 470º and then lowering it to 360º. I tented it with foil at the end because it was getting so dark.

I'm still in awe that kefir could make such a perfect sourdoughy loaf...the bread was delicious, made excellent toast. It was sourdough-like without being too sour. And it didn't have any store-bought instant yeast or sourdough starter. And I didn't have to spend a week waking up my sourdough starter. How cool is that?!

Our kefir smoothies:
Little girl: 1/2 c plain kefir, 2 T (ish) homemade chocolate syrup, 1/2 banana, 3 ice cubes
Hubby & me: 1/2 c plain kefir, 2 T homemade chocolate syrup or small handful of chocolate chips, 1/2 banana, 1 T natural creamy peanut butter, 5 ice cubes
Little guy: 1/2 c plain kefir, various amounts and combinations of frozen fruits

Weekend doughnuts

A month or so ago, a group if my Twitter pals got to talking about our doughnut pans (because, well, that's the kind of thing we talk about). We decided it would be fun to use our pans more frequently, and, thanks to Kayte, our doughnuts for weekend mornings pinterest board was born.

Baked doughnuts clearly fit in with a weekend full of baking, but they are also quick and easy enough for a busy morning. Mix the batter while the oven preheats, make the glaze and do the dishes during the eight minutes of baking time: 30 minutes tops between deciding we need a breakfast treat and enjoying fresh baked doughnuts...can't beat it! And easy enough for the kiddos to make, with a little bit of help.


First up were these pumpkin doughnuts from KAF, a clear favorite with everyone. I used half the batter to make 6 regular and 6 minis on Saturday morning, stuck the rest of the batter in the fridge over night, and made the rest on Sunday morning. Easy to do and way tastier than eating day-old donuts! We topped these with cinnamon-sugar (although the little girl preferred them plain).


Next, we made apple cider doughnuts, also from KAF. These were my least favorite, but hubby said that, with the glaze, they tasted like apple pie wrapped in apple pie. We used half cider glaze (powdered sugar, milk, boiled cider) and half cinnamon sugar.


Last week were citrus doughnuts: officially orange, but I think some of my orange zest from the freezer may have been lemon zest...who knows. I used a little extra zest and used orange juice for half the milk in the glaze. Yummy.


Today we had simple spiced doughnuts. Based on Kayte's experiences, I made a half recipe, but used the full amount of spice. I also used Kayte's glaze (powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla) for half; cinnamon sugar for the other half. A half recipe made five doughnuts, but it's clear I overfilled my pans, so I'll make six next time.

It's fun to get more use out of a specialty pan, and I can't wait to see what gets chosen for next weekend!

Rebecca's challah

I love twitterbakes. When I heard that Kayte, Margaret, Nancy, and Di were all going to bake Rebecca's family challah recipe one Sunday, I just had to jump on board. Most of the challah recipes I've tried have just tasted like enriched white bread; the only one that tasted like real challah was the very first one I tried, Joan Nathan's recipe via Smitten Kitchen.

It was so fun to get challah updates throughout the day and to read about everyone's different braiding experiences. Due to house guests, I was behind most everyone else, but finally finished my bread late Sunday night (mine did not take the full 30 minutes to bake). This bread was fabulous; the flavor was spot-on challah. We nibbled on slices plain for a snack, and then enjoyed a big dinner of French toast. The kids brought the rest of the loaf to Grandpa Daycare the next day for a French toast breakfast.

Rebecca posted her challah just in time for the Jewish New Year....L'Shana Tova!

CSA: dinner and reflections

Hubby and I decided to join a CSA for the first time last year. We'd talked about it for years, and every year I would do a ton of research on local farms...and then get totally overwhelmed by the number of choices and give up. Finally, last winter, we bit the bullet: picked a farm and sent in our money.

In case you're unfamiliar,

In basic terms, CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

From the USDA's National Agricultural Library: http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csadef.shtml

Last year was not a good year for many of our local farms, so it wasn't the best for us either. It was too cold and then too hot and then too wet and then too dry...nothing much grew. We got squash, squash, and more squash...and that was it. I appreciated that the farm wanted us to feel like we were getting our money's worth (as much as they could, given the weather), but it was way more than we could deal with. I made every zucchini recipe known to man, froze a bunch of sliced squash and no-noodle lasagna, made countless jars of pickles, gave a ton of food away, and still couldn't keep up.

So hubby and I had a big heart-to-heart this winter; we knew that it wasn't fair to judge CSAs based on last year's experience. We decided to give it another try this year, although we switched to another farm that several friends had joined, knowing that they got a lot more variety than we did, even with last year's crazy weather.

This summer has been a true CSA experience. This farm offers us an amazing variety of veggies each week, but not too much of any one thing (except maybe cukes). The farmer sends fabulously detailed newsletters each week, filled with farm news, recipes, and pictures of the interns working on the farm. We were a little overwhelmed by the amount of greens at the beginning of the season, until we started making green smoothies as an afternoon snack each day.

Our box this past week provided us with this amazing meal: fresh tomatoes, garlic, carrots, celery, and onions went into this fresh tomato sauce. Scallions went into the cheddar and scallion rolls (twitterbaked with Kayte and Margaret). Fresh garlic, parsley, and basil went into the meatballs. We ate delicious broccoli on the side. All of the veggies are incredibly fresh; I can't believe how much better everything tastes than when we buy them from the grocery store. Even the celery, which I think of as being so bland, smells and tastes so celery-y. The whole family is excited to see what we get each week, and the kids love asking which of our foods came from our veggie box.

We still have many veggies to use before our next pick-up on Thursday. Farm potatoes and peppers will go with our grilled chicken tomorrow. Tuesday night's fried rice will include the rest of the broccoli, scallions, carrots, and cabbage. I gave two eggplants to my mom, I'll have to make another batch of pickles, and I'm waiting for inspiration for the giant bag of beets.

Which leads me to my final reflection: as wonderful as the food tastes, as much as I love the connection to a local farm, as much as I believe in the ideals of a CSA, I don't think we'll do it again. I miss choice; we get so much food that our meals are all determined by which recipe uses up the most farm veggies. This is especially challenging at the beginning of the summer when you get the same foods over and over (I could make this bok choy and kale recipe in my sleep!). I miss shopping at the farmer's market; although we still go, I can't justify buying additional produce when I can't keep up with what we have and when we've already spent so much money. And I can't stand the guilt of throwing food away when we can't get to everything, even though our farmer insists that it's still worth it and we're still doing good.

Still, it's been such a valuable experience, and I'm so glad we tried it...and I'm excited to see what's in this week's box! :-)

Food for a rainy day: Oasis Naan (TWD: BwJ)

Our first June TWD: BwJ recipe is oasis naan.

When my friend Phyl found out that he was hosting, he proposed a Twitterbake of butter chicken and naan. We were all supposed to make it on a Thursday...and then were all too tired/busy to cook. And then we were supposed to make it on Friday. So Thursday night, I quickly mixed up the dough with warm water, yeast, flour, and salt, and kneaded it on the counter until it was smooth. You're supposed to leave it on the counter for a couple hours or refrigerate it overnight; I stuck mine in the fridge. And then we got invited to a last-minute barbecue at our friends' new house...couldn't pass that up! So I missed out on the Twitterbake once again, and my naan dough lived in the fridge for an extra day.

Finally on Saturday, even though we were heading to the ballpark for dinner, I made the butter chicken and naan. Because both naans in BwJ are made with the same base dough, I decided to try both recipes: Persian naan and oasis naan. And because I'd only made a half-batch of the dough, I made one large Persian naan and two small oasis naan.

The oasis naan is cut into small pieces, rolled out into six-inch circles, punctured with a fork, and then sprinkled with scallions, kosher salt, and cumin seeds. Then it is baked for a short time in a 500º oven on a preheated baking stone. Apparently I didn't puncture my bread vigorously enough because mine puffed up quite a bit...which we actually liked. I will blog the Persian naan when it comes up, but I will say that all of the adults preferred the puffy oasis naan, and it was the perfect tool to eat the butter chicken.

The butter chicken recipe was easier to make than our standby recipe (curried chicken with tomato almond sauce) and the flavor was very similar; I did miss the peas and onion chunks, though. The naan was delicious; our usual naan recipe is brushed with ghee, so we missed that a bit, but cooking these in the oven was much less hectic than trying to do it on the stovetop as my other recipe calls for. And we really loved the puffy texture; I think, with the exception of the missing ghee, that we have a new favorite naan recipe.

Indian butter chicken and naan is not a traditional tailgating meal, but it was delicious and enjoyed by all!

Check out the recipe here on Phyl's blog or here on Maggie's blog. Or better yet, buy the book! And check out other TWDers' naan experience here.

Ciabatta rolls with Mother's Day jelly

When KAF posted this delicious-sounding recipe for ciabatta sandwich rolls, I immediately thought of my friend Di, who frequently bakes sandwich rolls from their site. Sure enough, the very next morning, I saw a tweet from Di, asking if anyone would be up for baking the rolls on Sunday. So Di, Kayte, and I planned a Twitter bake.

I knew it might be a little hectic to try to bake on Mother's Day, but hey, it's my day, right? And wouldn't it be wrong if I didn't bake on my day? :)

Late Saturday night when I got home from my bookclub, I quickly mixed up the starter; it couldn't have been easier. On Sunday morning, before we left for our trip to the Big Zoo, I mixed up the rest of the dough: all-purpose flour, instant yeast, salt, powdered milk, water, olive oil, and the starter. (I used my dough hook instead of my paddle attachment.) I let it rise for an hour on the counter, and then did a stretch and fold and stuck it in the fridge. When we got home from the zoo, the dough had clearly doubled in the fridge, so I pulled it out, divided it into 80 g portions and shaped them into flat rolls. And then I realized that I wouldn't have time to bake them before we left for dinner so...back into the fridge! When we got home, I pulled them out again. They puffed up in a few hours and I was able to dimple them and bake them before we went to bed.

This morning, my little guy was thrilled to see that we had bread! You see, at preschool, the kids made dandelion jelly, and he was really anxious for us to try it. (He goes to preschool at a nature center and one of his teachers, the same one who has chickens that occasionally give us eggs, is very interested in wild edibles.)

Recipe according to my little guy: "Here's how we make dandelion jelly. We picked dandelions and then we snipped them with scissors to get all the green stuff away. Then A [his teacher] boiled it to get light jelly. And then in the batch I was in, we putted it in. Then put in the jelly. Then put wrappers and stickers and labels on. I picked a Time to Relax hummingbird sticker. I wanted to give it sooner, but I decided to wait. So that's what we did."

So we enjoyed dandelion jelly on ciabatta rolls for breakfast, and then hubby used them for his lunch time sandwiches, and finally we used them as hamburger buns with dinner...quite a versatile roll! This is a make-again recipe for sure. I think Kayte and Di are both going to post their experiences with the ciabatta rolls later this week, so check them out!

Happy Mother's Day! :)

Cook's Country Pepperoni Rolls

According to my newest issue of Cook's Country, many groups created easy-to-make portable meals to take down to the mines in their lunch buckets in the late 19th century; for Italians in West Virginia, it was a pepperoni roll. The recipe for this on-the-go lunch clearly became a must-make in our house. When I mentioned these to Kayte, she decided to join in, and then Margaret did, too. Due to my hubby's desire to have these immediately if not sooner, we ended up baking these on different days, but they were a big hit with all three of our families.

According to Cook's Country, this recipe makes 16 rolls. Initially I intended to cut the recipe in half, but then I read the note about how easy these were to freeze. So I made and baked 16, which fed us for a dinner and a picnic lunch at the zoo, and then froze the rest. When we needed a quick, no hassle dinner, I stuck the rolls into the oven, made a batch of Donna Hay's mozzarella and tomato dip, and we had another dinner, just as good as the first!

Pepperoni rolls
from Cook's Country, April/May 2012

4 (7 - 8 oz) sticks pepperoni, 8 in long

1 1/2 c water

1 c whole milk

2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar

6 2/3 (33 1/3 oz) all-purpose flour, + 1 tbsp

1 tbsp instant yeast

2 tsp salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

4 tsp sesame seeds

1. Cut pepperoni sticks in half crosswise, then cut each in half lengthwise. Slice each quarter lengthwise into 4 4-inch wedges (you should have 64 total). Place pepperoni in a large bowl, microwave until fat is rendered, about 3 minutes. Use tongs to transfer pepponi to paper towel-lined plate; reserve 3 tablespoons of pepperoni oil and do not wash bowl. (I couldn't find these thick pepperoni, so I bought 32 thin sticks, which I cut in half. When I microwaved these, I only got 1 tablespoon of oil (maybe because of the decreased surface area?) so I just subbed in melted unsalted butter for the additional oil. I will search harder for the other kind of pepperoni next time; CC recommends Margherita Italian Style Pepperoni.)
2. Combine water, milk, and sugar in a large measuring cup. Microwave until the temperature is 110º (about 1-2 min). Stir in pepperoni oil.
3. Mix flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water mixture and stir until incorporated. Knead until smooth. Put in the unwashed pepperoni bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
4. Divide the dough into 3 1/2 oz pieces. Form into balls and let rest 5 minutes.
5. Toss pepperoni sticks with remaining 1 tablespoon of flour.
6. Press each dough ball into a 6x4” rectangle. Lay 4 pieces of pepperoni side by side, 1/2 inch apart, and roll into tight cylinder, pinching seam to seal. Leave ends open. (see picture)
7. Put rolls seam side down on parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, end to end, 1/2 inch apart, 4 per row. Cover with plastic and rise until doubled, about an hour.
8. Brush with eggs and sprinkle with sesame seeds. (I made half without sesame seeds because the kids don't like them.) Bake at 375º until golden brown, about 24 - 28 minutes.

(These freeze really well: wrap each roll tightly in plastic wrap and freeze. To reheat, wrap each roll in foil. Bake directly on the rack at 350º for 35 - 45 min or until heated through.)

 

Sunny Anderson's BBQ chicken pizza (Twitter avatar fun)

Our next chef-of-the-month, chosen by Peggy, was Sunny Anderson. She is another new-to-me chef, but I found many recipes on the Food Network site.

I decided to try Sunny's easy BBQ chicken pizza. After sampling the barbecue sauce, which had a bit of a kick, I knew the kiddos wouldn't eat it. I found a bit of extra pizza sauce in the fridge and used it to make 1/3 of a regular pizza with olives and pepperoni for them. And then, knowing I would have too much bbq chicken, I tried these buffalo chicken rolls that Tracey posted a while ago. I made 2/3 of a barbecue chicken pizza, 8 chicken rolls, and still had another cup of barbecue chicken to freeze for another bbq pizza on a night when we need a quick dinner.

I used my normal NM thin-crust pizza recipe, and this awesome new technique from KAF for rolling the pizza out. Have you ever tried to stretch out a pizza crust and had it shrink back? It happens to me all of the time, and it's so frustrating! This time, I oiled the pan as I always do, and then covered the dough with parchment paper and rolled the dough out. As the writers at KAF promised, the parchment prevented the dough from shrinking. Hurray!

We really enjoyed this pizza (and the chicken rolls, which were tasty and fun to make!).

Sunny's BBQ chicken pizza
adapted from Sunny Anderson via Food Network

2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 T chopped jalepeno
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1 c ketchup
1/4 c yellow mustard
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2/3 c light brown sugar
1 T cider vinegar
1 roast chicken, meat removed and chopped
1 11x13 pizza crust
1/4 c shredded sharp cheddar
1/8 c grated Parmesan
1/2 c shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 500º.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add onion and jalepeno and cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes, or until onions are softened and translucent.
3. Add paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, and garlic, and cook 1 minute, or until fragrant.
4. Add ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and vinegar. Turn heat to medium-high and stir until combined.
5. Stir in chicken.
6. Roll out pizza dough on an oiled jelly roll pan. Cover with chicken. Add cheddar, Parmesan, and mozzarella. Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is baked through and cheese is bubbly and golden.
7. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Twitter chef avatar fun: Delia's chicken pot pie

Our February chef for our Twitter avatar fun is Delia Smith, chosen by Nancy. Delia is a new chef for me, but luckily her website is absolutely overflowing with delicious recipes to try. (Kayte made her French onion soup.) Looking for a good dinner idea, I found her recipe for chicken and leek pot pie. Chicken pot pie is always a hit around here, and this one was covered with puff pastry; I just happened to have just enough of NM's puff pastry left in my freezer to cover my pies.

The recipe is great for a small household, baking in a small round casserole and serving two. Feeding a family of four, but not needing leftovers for the next day, I made one and a half times the recipe. And actually, it makes quite a bit: it fed us all, plus healthy seconds for hubby, and he still had a sizable portion leftover for lunch today.

I had a bit of a challenge with the pot pie topping: you're supposed to cut out a little strip of pastry and stick it to the side of the casserole, and then press a round bit of pastry on top. I just couldn't make it work and was in a rush, so I just threw the round on the top of the casseroles. As a result, the puff pastry sank onto the topping and was a little soggy; still tasty though! I also made a change in the decoration: Delia has you decorate the top of the pie with a cut out of a leaf. To get buy-in from my family, I used our Star Wars cookie cutters and made Millennium Falcon and Tie-Fighter cut-outs instead. :-)

As for the verdict? This pot pie filling was awesome, definitely a rival to our favorite recipe. It was kind of time-consuming, but most (good) pot pie recipes are, and it probably would've been easier if I wasn't making ice cream at the same time. Definitely a repeat!

Melty Millennium Falcon

Delia's chicken and leek pot pie
adapted from Delia Smith

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (a 20 oz package)
3 leeks, thinly sliced, with tough green ends removed
2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
12 oz hard cider
3 oz chicken broth (Delia calls for only hard cider, but I didn't want to open a 2nd bottle, so I used broth to fill in the rest of the liquid)
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
12 oz puff pastry (fresh or frozen and defrosted)
1 egg, lightly beaten
finely grated Parmesan for sprinkling
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:
15 oz milk
1 1/8 oz all-purpose flour
1 1/8 oz unsalted butter
pinch of cayenne pepper
1.5 oz sharp cheddar, grated
3/4 oz Parmesan, finely grated
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper


[Edited: Apparently Delia is pretty strict about copyright, and I don't want to step on any toes, so please see her site for assembly instructions. I am including my measurements and list of ingredients, as I made quite a number of changes.]

Leftover puff pastry = dessert!

Donna Hay's rainbow whoopie pies (Twitter avatar fun)

Our first chef-of-the-month for 2012 is Donna Hay, chosen by Kayte. I'd never heard of Donna Hay, but apparently she is a very famous and prolific Australian cookbook author. I spent quite an enjoyable amount of time browsing her site and checking out recipes. She has a kids' section, which especially appealed to me.

Baby girl and I picked the rainbow whoopie pies...baking them together was a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning! I've heard a lot about whoopie pies on the blogosphere over the past year, but had yet to try any. We still have a counter-full of holiday cookies that hubby's mom left for us when she visited last week, so I knew we didn't need a lot more sweets, so I just made a third of the recipe.

The cookies were easy and the little girl had fun dumping ingredients into the bowl and using the scale to make sure we had the right amount. DH says the dough is wet (which it is) and difficult to form into balls, but we used one of my cookie scoops, which worked just fine. I actually got 16 cookies from the 1/3 batch, and they were perfectly done in 15 minutes. While they baked, I made the filling with marshmallows, butter, and a little white chocolate. Unsurprisingly, the taste and texture was very similar to a rice crispie bar. I'm a little confused about the amounts; I made over 1/3 of the filling recipe, and yet it was only enough to fill the three sandwiches you see in the picture above. So we had ten plain chocolate cookies leftover (unfortunately, I'm out of marshmallows so I couldn't make more filling).

These were delicious little treats! Hubby especially enjoyed his with his coffee, although I'm not sure they technically count as a healthy breakfast treat. :) And the leftover cookies made perfect ice cream sandwiches for dessert. ;)

Donna Hay's rainbow whoopie pies
scaled from Donna Hay
makes 8 or 9 whoopie pies (this is 1/3 of the cookie recipe and 2/3 of the filling recipe)

83 g unsalted butter, softened
60 g light brown sugar
55 g superfine sugar
1 egg
125 g all-purpose flour
17 g cocoa
scant 1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g marshmallows
20 g unsalted butter
40 g white chocolate (chips or chopped bar)
rainbow sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 300º.
2. Beat butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl until pale and creamy.
3. Add egg and beat until combined.
4. Sift flour, cocoa, and baking powder on top of the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
5. Use a cookie scoop to portion cookie balls onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake cookies for 15 minutes, until baked through. Cool on wire rack.
7.While cookies are baking, make filling: combine marshmallows and 20 g butter in a small saucepan and cook over low, stirring constantly, until smooth. Off heat, add chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool. (It will get firm and sticky instantly, so I transferred it quickly to a bowl to cool.)
8. Match cookies up by size. Put filling on one side, put another cookie on top, and sprinkle the sprinkles around the outside.

Twitter avatar fun: Jamie Oliver and a recap

About a year ago, Nancy suggested that a bunch of us Twitter pals liven up our avatars by choosing a chef-of-the-month, cooking one of his or her recipes, and using a picture of the dish as our avatar for the month. I have had such great fun exploring many new-to-me chefs and trying out different styles of meals!

Our December chef was Jamie Oliver, and he was actually chosen by a group vote. Although I've heard a bunch about JO, I'd never actually tried one of his recipes. I spent a bunch of time browsing on his site, and actually enjoyed reading the articles as much as perusing the recipes. I love his commitment to teaching kids about nutrition and how to prepare their own healthy foods ~ especially as someone who witnesses the nutritional habits of teens on a daily basis!

Life has been a bit hectic these days, so (as seems to be usual for me), I choose a recipe for a good dinner rather than picking something that would make a good avatar picture. Ever the practical one, that's me! :) I picked Jamie's chicken tikka masala (recipe here). The dish took about an hour and a half to prepare (which includes a 30 minute marinade of the chicken) and smelled absolutely delicious. It made a nice dinner, but I have to say that we much prefer a similar recipe that I've been making for the past couple of years: chicken with curried tomato almond sauce (found on the Daring Cooks website). That recipe contains cinnamon and peas, both of which lend the dish just a hint of sweetness that was missing tonight. Still, we all enjoyed dinner and I look forward to trying more JO recipes!

And now, the recap:

January: Thomas Keller's caramel corn
February: James Beard's snickerdoodle pear cake (a quick and easy favorite!)
March: Emeril's cheese crackers
April: Jaques Pepin's ricotta dumplings
May: David Chang's steak lettuce wraps
June: Eric Reipert's shrimp and rice pilaf
July: Ina's barbecue sauce and mashed potatoes (a big hit, especially on bbq pizza!)
August: Rick Bayless' shredded chicken with potatoes and tomatoes (we loved it!)
September: Nigella's pumpkin seafood curry
October: Mark Bittman's banana chocoalte-chip pancakes (now in the dinner rotation!)
November: Ghillie Basan's veggie tagine
December: Jamie Oliver's tikka masala

Twitter avatar fun: Ghillie Başan's veggie tagine

Our November chef for our Twitter avatar fun was Ghillie Başan, chosen by Andrea. She is new to me; according to her website, "Ghillie Başan is known for her informative and evocative books on the culinary cultures of Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia." Sounded good to me!

There aren't many of her recipes on the web, but I did find several that sounded intriguing on her site, including the recipe for tagine of yams, carrots, prunes, and honey, a recipe from her book Modern Moroccan.

The recipe calls for yams, but with how many squash we still have in our basement, I did a little checking to see if there were any squash that could be substituted for yams or sweet potatoes. And I found one: delicata, which is even called "sweet potato squash." The recipe called for pearl onions, but I had a leek and some yellow onions in the veggie drawer, so I used them. The final substitution that I made was the stock; this is vegetarian dish which calls for vegetable stock, but I was all out, so I just used low-sodium chicken stock.

And the result? We really enjoyed this side-dish! The veggies are slightly caramelized and quite sweet. It was delicious with a roasted chicken, my most recent Mellow Bakers bread, and fruit.

Tagine of delicata, carrots, prunes and honey
adapted from Ghillie Başan

3 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 c sliced onions (GB calls for pearl onions, but I used a combination of leeks and yellow onions)
3 c peeled and cubed (bite-sized) delicata (GB calls for 2 lbs yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces)
1 1/2 c cubed (bite-sized) carrots
3 T honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
5 oz soft, pitted prunes, cut in half
16 oz low-sodium chicken stock (GB calls for vegetable stock)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
chopped cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 400º.
2. In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the onions and cook over medium heat until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Remove half of the onions and set aside.
3. Add the delicata and carrots to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until lightly browned, about 6 - 8 minutes.
4. Add the prunes, spices, and honey. Stir. Then pour in the stock, salt, and pepper. Stir and cover.
5. Put into the oven and cook for 45 minutes. Add the rest of the onions and cook an additional 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Handmade loaves: Berne Brot Winston knot

My friend Di, host of the most excellent Virtual Cookie Exchange last winter and Sundae Sunday this past summer, decided that now that the weather is finally cooling off, it's time to bake bread! Her autumn event is dedicated to handmade loaves.

My first Mellow Bakers bread for October is Berne Brot, a Swiss challah-like braided bread. Unlike challah, Berne Brot uses butter and milk. This is a quick one-day bread; I started mixing the ingredients when I got home from work and baked the bread before bed. I couldn't decide on the type of braid to use, and almost went with a simple three or four strand braid. But as I was paging through the Bread chapter on braiding, I re-encountered the Winston Knot, a braid I had tried with challah...unsuccessfully. My biggest problem back then was that I didn't roll the strands long enough, so I ran out of dough before I was through.

This time, I followed the wonderfully clear instructions Celia offers in her Winston Knot tutorial...and it worked! Hurrah!

I made a half recipe, which made about 840 grams of dough; six balls of 140 g, rolled out to about 60 - 65 cm (24" or 25"). I tried to err on the side of too-long, so that I wouldn't run out like last time. My dough was a lot softer than challah; in his braiding section, JH suggests dusting the braid strands with the tiniest, lightest dusting of flour to help prevent softer dough strands from baking into each other; it seemed to work.

The taste was similar to challah or a less-buttery brioche, so as we always do with both of those, we made French toast.

Berne Brot
adapted from Jeffrey Hammelman's Bread

425 g bread flour
30 g vital wheat gluten
204 g milk, warmed
1 egg yolk
1 egg
61 g unsalted butter, softened
26 g sugar
9 g salt
3 g instant yeast

1. Stir together the flour, vital wheat gluten, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the yeast into the warmed milk, and then stir the milk, eggs, and butter into the dry ingredients. Stir (I used my dough whisk) until it all comes together in a large, shaggy mass.
2. Knead in a stand mixer or by hand for 3 or 4 minutes, until the dough has developed.
3. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour. Stretch and fold the dough, recover the bowl, and let rise for another hour.
4. Split the dough into equal-sized balls, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes. Then roll each ball into a long strand and proceed with braiding. If you're interested in trying the winston knot, I strongly recommend checking out Celia's tutorial.
5. Place the braid on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover with baker's linen and plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (JH warns against letting the braid rise fully before baking; he recommends letting it rise to about 85%.)
6. Thoroughly brush the loaf with an egg wash.
7. Bake at 375º for 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 200º.
8. Cool on a rack.

Head over to Di's blog later this week to see the handmade loaf round-up!

Bake! Thin-crusted pizza

Our Bake! pick for this week is thin-crusted pizza, and it was picked by ME! :)

I actually picked this recipe because my dad loves pizza, but prefers thin-crust, and since none of my trusty pizza crust recipes are for thin-crust, I've never been able to share homemade pizza with him. But then we ended up having a bunch of people over for dinner, and we ate it all up! No fear, though: this recipe is super easy and super tasty, and I guarantee we'll make it again.

This morning, I made the dough, which only consisted of whisking flour with salt, yeast with water and oil, and then mixing the two together. The dough rises for an hour or until doubled (mine took a little longer), is folded over a few times to smooth it out, and divided. I divided mine into three 364 g portions (to fit on my 10x15 baking pans), floured the pieces, wrapped them in plastic, and stuck them in the fridge.

When we got home from our afternoon adventures, I pulled two pieces of dough out of the fridge, oiled two pans, and used my fingers to spread the dough out as much as possible.

I used NM's simple tomato sauce, and then topped the pizzas with a sprinkling of olives, pepperoni, mushrooms and onions. I ended with grated mozzarella and asiago. The pizzas baked for 9 minutes. Seriously, so quick and easy! A perfect meal for having friends over: both the crust and the sauce can be made ahead of time and the assembly was much easier than doing our usual individual pizzas.

The pizza got rave reviews from everyone. The crust was crispy and had great flavor. Check out Margaret's post for her beautiful margherita pizza!

Pumpkin pie ice cream and Bake! ox tongues

Right after I went on my baking/dessert hiatus, I stumbled on David Leibovitz's post for pumpkin ice cream. Each week when we picked up our squash-overwhelmed CSA box, I would click back over to the recipe and drool. I'm normally a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate girl, but for some reason, I have been obsessed by the idea of ice cream that tastes like pumpkin pie.

And today was the day! Today was our annual orchard/pumpkin festival trip with some good friends and their little ones, and we decided to come back to our house after the festival for dinner. I needed a dessert, and what better treat after a pumpkin festival than pumpkin ice cream?

I still had some pumpkin puree in the freezer, leftover from my pumpkin muffins (post tomorrow!), so I was able to skip the roasting-the-squash step. I started organizing for DL's recipe, and then said, "I wonder if Jeni has a recipe for pumpkin ice cream so I can skip the egg/custard part?" and sure enough, she did! Her recipe calls for Chinese five spice, and first of all, I didn't have it, and second of all, I really wanted a more pumpkin pie flavor. So this is what I came up with:

Pumpkin pie ice cream
adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and David Lebovitz

3 1/8 cups (800 g) half-and-half (both Jeni and DL call for a combination of whole milk and cream, but half-and-half was all we had in the house)
2 tbsp (33 g) milk
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (13 g) cornstarch
3 tbsp (43 g) neufchatel cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 c (85 g) honey
3/4 c (180 g) fresh pumpkin puree
2/3 c (135 g) packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp (22 g) light corn syrup
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

1. Whisk the softened cream cheese with the salt in a large bowl. Then whisk in the pumpkin puree and honey. Set aside.
2. Combine half-and-half, brown sugar, corn syrup, and spices in a large sauce pan. (Use a 4 qt saucepan. I tried a smaller one and it boiled over!) Bring to a roiling boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4 minutes.
3. Whisk two tablespoons of milk with cornstarch.
4. After the milk mixture has boiled for four minutes, turn off the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil for one minute, stirring with a heat-proof spatula.
5. Pour the milk mixture into the bowl with the cream cheese/pumpkin mixture, whisking until smooth.
6. Strain the mixture into a gallon zip-top plastic bag. (I actually strained it into a measuring cup and then poured it into the bag to limit the mess.)
7. Put the bag into an ice bath for 30 - 60 minutes until cool. (Or put in the fridge overnight.)
8. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze in a container for four hours.

I decided that we needed a little cookie treat to go with the ice cream, and Phyl's Bake! pick of ox tongues seemed like the right choice. So I took a small piece of puff pastry from the freezer (about 200 g), rolled it out in some sugar, used a small round cutter to cut out small circles, rolled them into ovals, chilled them, and baked them for about 15 minutes until the sugar had caramelized.

This ice cream was a huge hit! In fact, the entire quart disappeared in one night, and one of our friends' little ones kept saying, "More? More?" after the container was empty. It tasted just like pumpkin pie filling, only in ice cream form. The ox tongues were perfect; a little piece of sugary buttery goodness to round out dessert.

Check out the layers!

Twitter avatar fun: Mark Bittman's pancakes!

banana pancakes

Nancy came up with the brilliant idea for us to choose a new chef each month, bake recipes from that chef, and use a picture of one of those recipes for our Twitter avatar. It took me forever to settle on a chef for my month (October). Finally, looking through my cookbooks, I decided on Mark Bittman. I'd won his How to Cook Everything in a silent auction last July, and I wanted an excuse to start using it.

Suddenly it's my month, and I realized that in the past almost-year since I selected him, I've begun cooking from Mark Bittman a lot. I use his How to Cook Everything for reference all of the time. He offers so many basics with so many fun variations that you feel like you're creating your own recipe. His book was especially helpful this summer, as I tried to figure out what to do with all of our CSA veggies. Also, Mark Bittman has started writing a Less Meat, More Flavor column for Cooking Light, one of my essential cooking magazines, and we've tried a bunch of those recipes this year. And I've started following him on Twitter, so I now get links to his NYT recipes and articles.

Today, on the way home from preschool, I suggested pancakes for dinner. My kids (who always request pancakes when given the dinner choice) were ecstatic. Suddenly, my little guy said, "What about banana pancakes with chocolate chips?" (Where do they come up with these things?) Usually, we eat buttermilk pancakes with blueberries (using ATK's recipe). So I said, "Sure, I could give that a try."

When we got home, I turned to my trusty HTCE, and sure enough, he had a recipe for incorporating bananas into pancakes!

These were less fluffy than our usual buttermilk pancakes, but they were really yummy. The regular pancakes had just a hint of banana flavor, and with the addition of the chocolate chips, they were a huge hit and a definite repeat. Even hubby ate his without syrup!

secret ingredient: chocolate chips!

Banana chocolate chip pancakes
adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

makes 16 medium pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 large banana
mini chocolate chips

1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Combine the melted butter, eggs, and milk. Mash the banana and add it to the liquid ingredients.
3. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry, being sure not to whisk too much (you want some lumps in the batter).
4. Pour batter (in 1/4 cup increments) onto a hot griddle (we use an electric griddle, although you could cook them on the stovetop on a griddle with butter). Sprinkle some mini chips on the pancakes and cook until bubbles form on the top and the bottoms are golden. Flip and continue to cook until the other side is also golden.
5. Serve.

According to Mark Bittman, the batter can be made a day or two ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready to use.

Bake! Mini apple lattice tarts

Kayte's pick for our next Bake! recipe happened during my September baking hiatus. But with the weekend bringing a new month and a trip to the apple orchard, I knew that it was time to make......apple lattice tarts!

I had four mini tart doughs stored in the freezer, so I used those, even though they were cookie dough crusts instead of the flaky dough crusts that were called for. I figured they'd work just as well, and I was right. The dough was enough for three mini tarts and the lattice topping.

This may have been the easiest apple pie-type filling recipe that I've ever encountered. I simply peeled, cored, and chopped the apples, and then tossed them with a sugar, flour, and cinnamon mixture. Finally butter is dotted over the filling and strips of dough are placed on top to create a lattice. Easy-peasy. I made a third of the topping, which was enough for my three minis, plus a little ramekin of extra filling. They baked for about 35 minutes, and were absolutely delightful.

Twitter Avatar Fun: Nigella's pumpkin seafood curry

CSA pumpkins...aren't they cute?!

Phew, September is already half over, and I've yet to change my Twitter avatar! This month's chef was chosen by Marthe, and she picked Nigella Lawson, another chef I've heard a lot about but have never tried.

Looking for a dinner recipe that would please the family and use up some of these CSA veggies that continue to overwhelm my kitchen, I stumbled across this recipe for Thai yellow pumpkin and seafood curry. It's not the most Twitter-avatar-friendly picture, but hey, you can't win 'em all, right? =)

I ended up making a ton of changes...not my original intention at all, but just because I was rushing to cook this after a busy day at the Renaissance Festival and texting hubby who I'd sent on an emergency trip the grocery store. In other words, a typical evening at my house! =) I used a different kind of chili paste because it was in the fridge, and had to sub in veggie stock because I didn't have any fish stock. My pumpkin ended up getting a little overcooked because hubby unknowingly chose shrimp that had to be deshelled, which took longer than anticipated. And I tossed in a bunch of extra veggies because we needed to use them up and I thought the extra color would be nice. Finally, I realized as I was going to serve the meal that, in the craziness of dinner prep, I'd forgotten to make rice, so I hurriedly soaked some Thai rice noodles and we had it over that instead. The rice noodles were fine, but I would definitely make rice next time.

It didn't matter. This recipe is amazing and flexible; the base is so good, and we spent much of dinner chatting about different variations we could try. I'd especially like to try mixing up the meats: making a chicken version, or a mixed meats one with chicken, sausage, and shrimp. And next time, I'll be sure to top it with cilantro which I forgot to put on the shopping list, and maybe even something crunchy on top like some slivered almonds? Whatever changes you make, this recipe is a must-try!

Pumpkin seafood curry
based on Nigella Lawson's Thai yellow pumpkin and seafood curry

1 can Thai coconut milk
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste (NL suggests 1-2 tbsp. I was worried about the heat, so only used 1. It wasn't hot at all, and I'd probably up it to the full 2 tbsp next time.)
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock (NL calls for fish stock)
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
zest from one lemon (NL calls for 3 lemongrass stalks, but we didn't have them.)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 pounds pumpkin, peeled and cut into large bite-sized chunks
2 cups mixed vegetables (chopped red pepper, sliced carrots, and chunks of summer squash)
1 pound salmon, skinned and cut into large bite-sized chunks
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled (and cut in half if large)
1/2 cup swiss chard and spinach, destemmed and chopped
1 lime, juiced
(NL calls for cilantro for garnish, which we sadly didn't have.)
(Rice. I forgot it, so I'm adding it to the recipe so I remember next time!)


1. Skim the thick top off the can of coconut milk. Put it into a large dutch oven with the curry paste, and cook it over medium until it sizzles. Then whisk the two together.
2. Add the remainder of the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemon zest, and tumeric. Bring to a boil.
3. Add the pumpkin, and cook on a "fast simmer" (as NL says) until the pumpkin is getting close to tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Add any hard veggies (carrots, peppers) and cook for another few minutes.
5. Keeping the stock at a fast simmer, add the shrimp and salmon, and cook until they're cooked through, about 4 or 5 minutes.
6. Add the greens and push them down. Once wilted, stir in the lime juice.
7. Off heat, add the cilantro. Serve over rice.

Bake! Truffle brownies

So August is officially our Bake! catch-up month, but knowing how crazily busy September will be with school starting up again, I decided to bake ahead a bit.......I needed a dessert to bring to a family cabin barbecue this weekend, so I let hubby pick from upcoming Bake! recipes. He choose the one for the first week of September which was picked by the newest member of our little group, Glennis: truffle brownies.

We've already baked the Florida brownies, which were to-die-for, and I have to say that the truffle brownies are just as dangerous.

Because we were going to the family barbecue, I made a full recipe (a 9x13 pan); unfortunately, the little girl got sick and we ended up spending the weekend hanging out at home. Hubby and I did quite a bit of damage to the pan. Luckily the girl was better by today and we were able to do an abbreviated trip to the cabin...saving ourselves from eating the entire pan....which we could've easily done.

At home, I served the brownies with Jeni's vanilla bean ice cream (via Food and Wine), which hubby declared the best vanilla ice cream he'd ever eaten. He was such a fan, in fact, that I've finally broken down and ordered her book.