For the Love of Food

I rarely have leftovers standing around in my refrigerator for the simple fact that I am so well practiced in cooking certain meals for my family, that I only make just the right amount for us to eat. Not too little, and not too much.

However, when we have guests over, I often go overboard because it’s hard to calculate know just how much each guest will eat since I’m not well acquainted with their eating habits. Last week I happened to have two set of guests over for dinner on different evenings. On one evening I made the best (unfortunately photographed) fajitas that I’ve eaten to date – even beating the best Tex-Mex restaurants I’ve visited in Texas, and on another evening we enjoyed a Greek meze in my attempt to bring a little bit of summer into the cold days of Fall.

By the time Friday rolled around, I had left over sautéed bell peppers and homemade guacamole from fajita night and hummus from Greek night – as well as some left over deli meat that I use to make sandwiches for my husband and older son during the week. But, what drove me to make this salad was, quite simply, the alfalfa sprouts.

I love alfalfa sprouts, but I so rarely come across theme here in the grocery stores. But, on the rare occasion that I go to my local, but not so close, organic grocery store, I can almost always count on them having it there.

Our local organic grocery store is also our only source of certain products, such as 100% cranberry juice, chocolate without soy lecithin, and steel-cut oats. I happened to be there looking for all three last week. And, when I walked by the alfalfa sprouts, I quickly took a few steps back, grabbed the last package, and headed off to the check-out with a big smile on my face because I knew just how I wanted to enjoy these – in a sandwich.

While I enjoy a traditional mustard, meat, cheese, and pickle sandwich, I mush prefer a non-traditional mixture of whatever I have at hand sandwich. And, this sandwich really hit the spot. Continue Reading »

As you can tell, my current cooking trend is fueled by my longing for warmer days. This meal is made up of predominantly Mediterranean dishes to compose a Greek Meze.

It’s great for when you’re going to have guests over – and works well in any season since most ingredients are preserved in some way, shape or form – well, when eggplant is out of season, you’re out of luck for the baba ganoush, but other wise, this meals practically throws itself together very well.

And, I made it with recipes I have tried over the years as well as items I picked up at my local Turkish store:
Falafel
Jajeek
Hummus
Baba Ganoush
Greek Salad
Stuffed/Marinated Chili Peppers
Stuffed/Marinated and Filled Mushroom Caps
Olives
Marinated Red Onion (red wine vinegar + a pinch of sugar + a pinch of salt)
Pita Bread
Rice-Stuffed Dolmas

I prepared everything early in the day, but made the falafel shortly before so that they were nice and warm.

Hummus is one of my favorite spreads to make because of the fact that it’s very versatile. It’s not just meat for dipping or scooping with different breads, but makes a great sandwich spread.

I have made quite a lot of hummus in the last 3 years – since discovering it, and I have learned that the secret to the silkiest and smoothest hummus is in the chick pea peel. By removing the peel, you remove a layer of roughness from the chick pea and pave the way for silky hummus.

Now, there is no easy or quick way to remove the peel from cooked chick peas – you just have to slip it off – one chick pea at t time. But, it’s well worth the effort. It takes me just under 10 minutes to “peel” a 400 gram can of chick peas. And, as is with most foods, although the quick way is tasty and edible – opting to take the long way has its rewards. Continue Reading »

I love the sunny days of summer. The warm air, the garden parties, and the simple meals.

A sandwich is the epitome of a simple meal, and this one is loaded with very complex flavors.

Prior to the creation of this meal, I had been very shy with using – or better said, not using – my chipotle chili powder. Now that I have taken a leap of faith and experimented, I am inspired everywhere I go with new ways to use it. One of my favorite ways it in guacamole. It will take an guacamole recipe and add the wow factor to it. And, because of the cool nature of guacamole, the chipotle chili powder doesn’t come over spicy at all, but rather adds delicious smoky undertones…which enhances any meal that you wish you could bbq, but can’t.

The chicken breast also has chipotle chili powder liberally sprinkled on it. Traditionally, I use Tone’s Garlic & Herb that I brought back from the US with me, and this time around I complemented it with the chipotle chili powder.

Serve your sandwich with a side of chips and some homemade lemonade, and you can pretend (or not) that you are basking in the warm summer son of a few months ago. Continue Reading »

A few weeks ago I shared with you a Fall fruit platter that I had put together. Now, it seems like I am making fruit platters every few days!

My husband and children love the fact that I just have fruit – and sometimes vegetables – just sitting out enticing them to pick a piece and continue on…and completely making them forget abut that trip to the refrigerator that they were just about to make. Even my littlest one, just just started walking last week, stands at the end of the table (where I keep my platter) and picks off anything he can reach.

So, I think I may just make it tradition around here to post a fruit platter every week – or whenever I just happen to have a well photographed one on hand.

This is one from 2 weeks ago. And, as you can see, my family loves grapes. Would you believe me if I told you that my 2 sons (ages 3,5 and 1,25) eat that amount of grapes in 2 days!!?? It’s just unbelievable how they practically inhale them! And, hidden behind all those grapes are some mushrooms! My older son loves raw – or as he would say it “braw” – mushrooms.

In this platter I have:
Red Grapes
Black Grapes
Clementine
Pears
Mushrooms

Just remember that a variety of color is key, as well as the ability to eat in small portions without the help of utensils (such as a knife). And, don’t forget to be adventurous and add some items that your family doesn’t usually expect – like mushrooms!

Last week I promised that I would reveal to you the hidden location of these meringue mushrooms and the walnut forest. Well, they’re sitting on top of what is, currently, one of the proudest moments in my baking history.

That is, they are on top of a six layer Fall hummingbird cake that I made. Originally, this would have been my 8th Project Foodblog post, but, I am sad to announce, that I didn’t make it to round 8.  However, I am quite proud that I made it this far

So, you are probably asking yourself at this point:

a – what is a Fall hummingbird cake

and

b – why is this one of the proudest moments in your (my) baking history??

You may be familiar with the traditional hummingbird cake. It’s deliciously sweet, is filled with bananas, pineapple, and pecans, and has more granulated sugar than flour in it. It’s sweet. And, it’s good.

So, why mess with something so fantastic?

why not!

I went ahead and substituted half of the bananas with homemade pumpkin puré (by volume) and the pecans with walnuts (because walnuts are in seasonal over abundance in Europe right now). In the end, I created a cake as delicious as the original with the added flavor of pumpkin pie…hence the name the Fall Hummingbird Cake.

And, to answer your second question, this is why I am so proud of myself:

That (3,5 years ago) was my first and last attempt at a multi-layered cake covered in frosting. Then, I chocked my oozing cake off to lack of knowledge and a bad recipe. Now, after much research…and a lot more practice…I am pretty sure that the recipe I used 3,5 years ago was perfectly fine and that I just should have planned to make the cake over 2 days instead of 2 hours. In the case of a mulit-layered cake, patience is key.

Now, I’m not saying that my cake is perfect – it does taste perfect – but I would love to achieve something that looks more like a professional cake next time and less like a hill. And, yes, there definitely will be a next time.

And, for those of you who would love a meringue mushroom forest on top of your cake, you can find my recipe (with accompanying video) here. Just remember to add the mushrooms at the last minute with a dab of some left over frosting. Then, sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

You will love the look on everyone’s face when they see this cake! It brought big smiles to my kids as well as the 5 guests we had over that evening and the 3 friends we visited the next day…it’s a big cake.   And, if the cake is too large for you to finish in a few days, slice it up, bag it, and freeze it…then you can enjoy it at your leisure for months to come.

The original recipe, and my inspiration for this cake can be found here. Sweetapolita used 8″ round cake tins, and I only have 1 10″ round spring form which is why my recipe yields 4 cakes and not 6. I intend to remedy this as soon as a find a place that sell cake tins in town. I definitely need something smaller in diameter and at least 3 or 4 so it doesn’t take me 4 hours to bake 4 cakes (for 8 layers). I ended up with 6 because I became impatient and my first cake crumbled.

The cake recipe comes together really quickly, but turning it into a multi-layered, beautifully frosted cake, takes time and patience.  Don’t let that frighten you – it is amazing what you can do with practice and time.

Cakes
Ingredients:
780 grams Flour
800 grams Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Cups Sunflower Oil
4 teaspoons Vanilla extract
220 grams Walnuts, finely chopped
454 grams canned crushed pineapple (with the juice)
2 Cups mashed Bananas (about 5-6 Bananas)
2 Cups homemade Pumpkin Puré

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

Prepare 4 10″ round cake pans by spraying the bottoms and the sides with cooking spray and then lining the bottom of each pan with a cut-out round piece of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together – by hand – the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, walnuts, pineapple, bananas, and pumpkin puré. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix well until everything has incorporated.

Pour the batter, in equal measure, into your prepared cake tins, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack and let sit for 20 minutes – do not remove earlier or your cakes will crumble! Once 20 minutes have elapsed, turn over the baking tins onto the rack to remove the cake, peel off the parchment paper, and let the cake completely cool.

Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap each cake with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator over night.

…the next day

Prepare the frosting (see recipe bellow) and then continue.

Remove your cake rounds from the refrigerator and prepare to cut each round in half. To do so you will need a large cutting board and a long serrated knife. Before cutting through the cake, score all along the edge of the cake where you wish to cut, then, with even, sawing strokes, cut each round in half.

Place 1 cake half top-side down on your cake plate (I used the removable bottom of my tart pan) and place a few scoops of frosting on it – spread so that it is evenly coated, then top with another cake half and repeat until all layers are used up.

Now your cake is ready to be crumb coated – which means that you need to cover the cake with a this layer of frosting on all sides and the top to seal in the crumbs – it does not have to look pretty – and then refrigerate for 1 hour before proceeding.

…1 hour later

Remove from refrigerator and cover with the final (pretty) coat of frosting. Refrigerate over night before slicing.

…the next day (again)

Remove from refrigerator just before serving. Slice, serve, and watch everyone smile and enjoy the silence of delicious cake.

Serves 28.

Frosting
Ingredients:
230 grams Butter, at room temperature
2 kg Powdered Sugar (yes – that’s 4 just over 4 pounds!)
4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
907 grams Cream Cheese, cut into chunks, cold

Directions:
In an electric mixer with whisk attachment, cream the butter and sugar until just combined. Add the vanilla extract and all the cream cheese and whisk on medium speed for about 4 minutes. Turn the speed to high for one more minute, and it’s done.

I love cute notions – especially edible ones – so when I saw meringue mushrooms on Sweetapolita, I knew I just had to make them.

I had never made meringue mushrooms until a week ago.  At first it was very frustrating.  I had great directions, but still found myself lost and not knowing, for example, what stiff peaks were supposed to look like despite endlessly staring at Google Images.

My first batch was a flop and took 7 hours of baking to get the meringue to harden, and it deflated beyond salvage when I added the cocoa powder to make chocolate ones.  With my second batch I tried a whole knew recipe, but it came out so very hard that it wasn’t really fun to eat – crunch, crunch.  My third batch looked promising, but after some egg yolk slipped into the egg white, I had to beat it for 30 minutes to get soft peaks and bake 5 hours to get it to harden.  And, somehow – I’m not the kind of person who gives up easily – I decided to try a fourth time, and, even though I used the same recipe as the first and third times, I was able to pull it off perfectly without a hitch…even when I mixed into cocoa powder and matcha green tea powder.

The mushrooms are ever so light and fluffy, but still rich and chocolaty.

I think it wouldn’t have taken 4 times to perfect had I had some visual guidance.  And, I would like to share my hard earned knowledge with you in this video that I made with my husband’s cell phone for this week’s Project Foodblog Challenge:

Comeback next week to find out what I did with my meringue mushrooms. And, yes, it has to do with this mushroom and walnut forest.

And, for those of you, like myself, who like a quick reference text version of the recipe: Continue Reading »

Welcome everyone to this month’s Taste&Create event!  And, I’d like to share with you that this is my 800th post of For the Love of Food!  Wow, we’ve really been together for a quite a while now.

Just a reminder:

-the rules can be found here.

-please do not email me your submission, go to the Taste&Create website, register/sign-in and submit your entry there by the 24th of November, 2010.

The next Taste&Create you can sign-up for is December/January and sign-ups will end on December 8th, 2010 for that event. Because of the holidays, as we do every year, it is a 2-month-long event to give everyone time to relax a bit. The next sign-up after the December sign-up will be in February.

Here is this month’s partner list:
Seduce Your Tastebuds & Needful Things
Eat Laugh Love & A Balanced Kitchen
NO REASON NEEDED & The Bad Girl’s Kitchen
Whisk and a Prayer & More Than Burt Toast#
Searching for Spice & Busy-at-Home

As I mentioned yesterday, I am a big fan of Big Macs and Special Sauce, but not a big fan of actually eating McDonalds because of all those unnatural extra ingredients that they add to their foods – among other things.

But, no worries, I make a burger that is tastier and much much healthier. And, while I don’t advocate eating more meat than is recommended for our daily intake, I do think that it’s ok to splurge every once in a while.

I went ahead and caramelized some onion rings to perfect that burger flavor. You can add anything that your heart desires to this burger. Continue Reading »

Now, while I’m not a big fan of sweet salad dressing, I am a BIG fan of “special sauce” on my burgers. More specifically, the kind that mimics the Big Mac sauce from McDonalds.

This is a very very close, delicious, and healthier alternative to what you will find on a big mac. I counted 19 ingredients in McDonald’s Big Mac Special Sauce and at least 5 of those ingredients are not natural, such as stabilizers and preservatives. No thank you!

It’s really quite quick to make yourself, and not only will it be a great complement to your next burger, but it is a big hit around here as a tartar sauce replacement for fish! Continue Reading »