Thank You Teachers!!

For seven years before I entered the culinary world, I was a teacher.  Having lived the life of a teacher for that time, I can say there is no other job out there that is more important, more challenging and more under appreciated than that of a teacher.  Not to say that other jobs aren't difficult, but at least the majority of jobs out there that are difficult are also very well respected.  Overall, teachers are underpaid, over worked and not looked at with the regard in this country that they deserve.  There is constant talk on the news about how teachers "have it made" since they get off at 3 and have the summers off.  After all, all they do is "play with kids" all day.  They may as well be considered "glorified babysitters".  None of these misconceptions are true.  Most teachers I know work at least 10-12 hours a day, making little more than minimum wage when you do the actual math, and spend countless dollars out of their own pockets to make sure their "kids" have everything they need.  What other profession out there is "expected" to work like that?  Ok...stepping off soap box.

Last week was "Teacher Appreciation Week".  While one week is not nearly enough time to show appreciation for the selfless work teachers do on a daily basis, I'm glad to shower my daughter's teacher with lots of goodies!  This time around, I was chosen to provide all the teacher's at my daughter's school with a wonderful lunch in their honor. 

For starters, I made a lovely spinach salad.  Since strawberries are at their peak right now, I added sliced of those along with some brie cheese, candied pecans, celery, red onion and cucumber.  I cheated a little and served it with a slightly warmed Ken's Light Poppy Seed dressing.  If you haven't had this salad dressing before, do yourself the favor!  You could really tip and back and drink it...at least I could...and hey, if it ain't broke right?

 

The colors were so beautiful, and everything was light and fresh.  Just what I love in a good salad.  Simple, beautiful ingredients.

 

For the main course, I made a Chicken Penne Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Fresh Tomato Sauce.  People get a little turned off by the thought of making their own tomato sauce, but in this case, it doesn't require any additional time that you wouldn't already be cooking, so why not?

 



I used one each of the following vegetables: zucchini, green pepper, red pepper, orange pepper, red onion and one large package of button tomatoes.  I diced all the vegetables and threw them in a roasting pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 6 cloves of garlic (sliced), a handful of fresh thyme sprigs, salt and pepper.  On a separate roasting pan I placed 12 roma tomatoes (quartered), 6 cloves of garlic (crushed), a handful of fresh thyme sprigs, a handful of basil leaves, salt and pepper.  I put both roasting pans in the oven at 350 degrees and roasted them for 25 minutes.  Once done, remove the thyme sprigs from both pans and discard.  Add the remaining contents of the tomato pan to a food processor and process until smooth.  If needed, thin with a little bit of chicken stock.  This will be your sauce.

Cook your penne pasta to al dente and saute chicken in a pan with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Once the chicken and pasta are done, dice the chicken and throw everything (sauce too) in the roasting pan with the vegetables.  Mix together well and put back in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes to make sure everything is nice and warm.  Viola!

For dessert, I made a marble cheesecake.  How did I choose this dessert?  Well, my daughter's teacher said her favorite dessert was chocolate or cheesecake...so I mixed the two.  I LOVE the way it came out!  Absolutely gorgeous!

Marble Cheesecake (recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsey)

2 c graham crackers
6 T butter; melted
4 1/2 oz dark chocolate; roughly chopped
1 1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c sour cream; room temperature
2 pounds cream cheese; room temperature
3 eggs; room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 - Line a 12x8 inch pan with plastic wrap overlapping the plastic wrap so that it is at least halfway down the outside of the pan.  Tuck under so it won't be touching the racks when placed inside the oven.
2 - Crush graham crackers in food process.  Add melted butter and pulse until the mixture holds it shape when you squeeze it in your hand.  Add more butter if too dry or more cracker if too wet.  Pour out mixture into prepared pan and flatten to form the crust.  Bake at 325 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or just until you begin to smell the graham crackers cooking.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
3 - In the bowl of a mixer with paddle, beat together sugar, sour cream and cream cheese until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next.  Beat in vanilla extract.  Pour batter over slightly cooled crust and tap lightly to remove air bubbles.
4 - Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or carefully in the microwave.  Swirl the chocolate over the cheesecake.
5 - Cook the cheesecake in a water bath at 275 degrees for 40-50 minutes until it is just slightly wobbly in the center.  Turn off your oven but keep your cheesecake in the oven (and water bath) for another 2 hours.  Remove cheesecake from oven and out of water bath and allow to cool in the refrigerator overnight.

 

Along with the lunch, here are some other goodies I did for teacher's last week!

Red Wine Fudge Balls anyone?

Teacher Appreciation basket full of all kinds of goodies!

Beach themed strawberry cupcakes since our teachers are "lifesavers"!

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  One week is defiantly not enough time to show appreciation for our teachers, but it's a start.  So THANK YOU teachers near and far for molding the minds of our young and treating them like one of your own.  Special thanks to Mrs. Laura, my little one's teacher.  You have been a wonderful blessing to her and our family this year. She has learned so much from you, and it has been amazing to watch her grow.  You are kind, caring, patient yet firm, everything our little girl needs.  We love you to pieces and hope you enjoyed your week!!

 

Cinco de Mayo!

Next to Thanksgiving, Cinco de Mayo is probably the hubs favorite day of the year.  If he could, he would eat Mexican food everyday.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited he was that Mexican food was my big craving when I was pregnant with our little peanut.  It was like Christmas to him whenever I asked if it would be okay if we had Mexican...for the third time in a week.  So when May 5 rolls around, he gets pretty excited at what I'm going to cook up for dinner.

We used to go out to eat on Cinco de Mayo...USED to.  Now with two kids, standing in long lines and big crowds for tacos and tequila shots just isn't in the cards anymore.  Fine by me.  I would rather be able to stay in my yoga pants anyway.

This year the menu was set with a few ole favorites and a new little gem.  Chicken carnitas tacos (or rice bowl in my case), Spanish rice, corn salsa and southwestern eggrolls with avocado cream dipping sauce.  I was pretty stoked to get back in the kitchen and cook an entire dinner since most of my dinners since the peanut was born have consisted of reheating freezer meals and most of my time in the kitchen had been consumed in baking projects.  Not that I'm complaining, but it's always nice to get to "just cook" once in a while!  Of course, things didn't really do as planned.

Tuesday was pretty rough in our house.  The little peanut had a rough night on Monday which typically translates to an easy day...not the case.  When she wasn't attached to me, she was crying.  It's pretty impossible to get anything done when your trying to calm a screaming baby, so I was pretty thankful that one of the items on the menu was done mostly in the crockpot...until I looked at the clock and saw it was almost 4 already and there was no longer time to slow cook my chicken for 6 hours in the crock pot.  Ok...backup plan.

I took the same ingredients that were supposed to go into my crock pot and put everything in a pot on the stove, threw the cover on and put it over medium heat.  Once things got going, I reduced the heat to low and let it cook for about 1 1/2 hours.  Not quite the "low and slow" I was hoping for, but it worked in a pinch!

Chicken Carnitas (adapted from Closet Cooking)
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs
3/4 c orange juice
1/4 c lime juice
6 garlic cloves; sliced
1 T chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1 - Place chicken in a crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine and cover chicken.  Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  (Or if you run short on time, cook like I did above)
2 - Remove chicken from crock pot and shred.  Put 1/2 cup juice from the crock pot onto a baking sheet, add chicken and toss to coat.  Bake chicken at 425 for 7-8 mins until the edges are nice and crisp.  Don't skip this step!  It definitely adds another element to your chicken!!

I made some Spanish rice to go along with the chicken and had a nice little meal.  The hubs made tacos out of the chicken and corn salsa, but I was just as happy making a little rice bowl with all the ingredients.  Super yummy!

The next big menu item was Southwestern eggrolls.  You want to know the way to my hubby's heart...it's eggrolls.  Southwestern may be his favorite, due to his affection with all Mexican fare, but throw anything into an eggroll wrapper and he's a happy fellow.

Since I'm trying to be healthier these days in an effort to loose the baby weight, I decided to try a recipe that had the eggrolls being baked, not fried.  That was a huge fail!  After baking the eggrolls just as the recipe had stated, they were still limp and not crisping at all.  Definitely NOT something you want in an eggroll.  Thankfully, a quick pan fry saved the day and we ended up with these beauties.

Since every recipe I've ever found for any kind of eggroll provides you with more filling than you ever need, I put half the filling in the eggrolls and took the other half of the filling (sans cheese) to use as corn salsa.  One recipe, two menu items!  Done and done!

Southwestern Eggrolls (adapted from Nutritious Eats)
(This is the full recipe and will make about 20 eggrolls.  If you don't need that many, either cut the recipe in half or save half of the filling for a yummy salsa.)

2 c frozen corn; thawed
15 oz can blak beans; rinsed, drained
1 c Mexican cheese blend; shredded
1 can Rotel
1 large green onion; chopped
1/ c fresh cilantro; chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
egg roll wrappers

1 - Combine corn through pepper in a small bowl and mix well.  Use about 1/4 c of filling per eggroll wrapper.  Roll eggrolls as directed on the package, using a little water to insure you get a nice, tight seal.
2 - Heat 1 inch oil in a pan to about 350.  Pan fry eggrolls for 3-4 minutes per side until nice and golden brown.

Avocado Dipping Sauce (adapted from Bobby Dean)
1 avocado; ripe
1/2 c sour cream
1 lime; juiced
salt and pepper to taste

1 - Place avocado, sour cream and lime juice in a food processor and process until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Of course, we had a margarita...or two...to wash everything down and our Mexican fiesta was a success! 

Following a Four Year Old (My Little One's First Post)

Recently, my oldest has been full of dessert ideas.  Almost every day on the way home from school, she talks about something.  Usually it's what kind of cake she wants for her birthday...in August.  Guess she's going to be a planner just like me.  She's also been throwing out cake ideas for other events she knows we have coming up.  My grandfather is turning 85 in June, and we are all flying out for his birthday.  If it were up to her, his cake would be a layer of cookies, a layer of chocolate, a layer of strawberry, sprinkles and more cookies.  We'll see what we can do...

Yesterday, however, she got set on one idea that she wanted to make when we got home.  This is 100% her idea, executed exactly the way she wanted...with a little guidance by me.  It wasn't something I had ever heard of before, and I'm not sure where the idea came from, but since I'm always up to experiment...and I was super excited that she was being so creative...we came home and cooked...a Sweet Tea Pie.

What's a sweet tea pie you ask?  A four year olds first creation.  I have to admit that the idea sounded pretty good.  After all, we do live in the south.  Who doesn't love a good glass of sweet tea?  For that matter, who doesn't like pie?!?  Win, win.  First we made the crust.

She insisted on doing everything herself.  So here she is cutting the butter for the pie crust into cubes.  I'm still working on getting her to hold the knife better...which is why I don't let her use a "real" one yet.

She even rolled the dough out herself.  I loved seeing how focused she was.  Definitely took her work seriously!

For the "sweet tea" part, I fell back on a trusty recipe I have for an earl gray custard.  Since black tea would probably have been a little strong for her taste, I used plan ole Lipton instead.  What better way to get sweet tea flavor than to use the tea you make sweet tea with!  Here's that recipe:

Lipton Tea Custard - adapted from Martha Stewart
1 c heavy cream
1 c milk
2 T Lipton tea (about 1 large tea bag)
4 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
pinch salt

1 - Heat cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering.  Add tea, stir and remove from heat.  Cover and let steep for 30 mins.  Remove tea bag, squeezing out the juices.  Re-measure the remaining liquid and add more cream if needed so you have 2 cups.  Return cream and milk to the saucepan and place back over medium heat.
2 - In a small bowl, whisk together yolks, sugar and salt.  Once milk is steaming, slowly whisk into egg mixture.  Pour entire mixture back into saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Strain into a bowl and put into the refrigerator to chill.

Once the pie shell had been blind baked and cooled, she got to work on filling it.

All good pies need berries!  She selected blueberries and strawberries for this creation.  She filled her pie shell with custard and topped it with the berries she cut.  There were also a few peanuts thrown in there since ever good pastry chef knows you need a little crunch. 

I must say I was impressed with her skills right out of the gate.  If she keeps up this way I may loose my job to her by the time she's five!

We put her pie in the refrigerator to finish setting up.  She was super excited to enjoy it for dessert after dinner!  The look on her face was priceless when she brought out her final project to show everyone.  I wish I had a picture of it, but I had a baby attached to me at the time...and missed it...oh well, next time!

In the end, it was a pretty good little pie.  With a few tweaks here and there, I think we may have stumbled onto the next great pie flavor.  What do you think?

Cooking for a Cause

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of being the pastry chef for a very special dinner.  My good friend and fellow chef Paul Johnson is going on a mission trip with his family and church to Moldova this summer.  To help raise money for the trip, he auctioned off his services in the form of a five course meal for six people.  The auction ended at $600!  The night turned out wonderful with great food and the chance to get in the kitchen cooking for such a wonderful cause!  Check out the wonderful creations we made!

Chefs for the night: Me, Paul Johnson and Kristen Beasley

Sous chef Kristen plating the amuse bouche

Amuse Bouche: Gouda stone ground grits with rendered pork belly and bourbon glazed apples

 

First Course: Market salad with heirloom tomatoes and carrots, shaved golden and red beets, radishes, and blood orange vinaigrette

Second Course: Tuna and avacado tartare with soft-boiled quail eggs, wonton crisps, radish sprouts, and pickled ginger

Chef Paul plating the fish course

Third Course: Poached Chilean sea bass with roasted corn citrus salsa, charred leeks, and bouillabaise foam

Fourth Course: Reverse-seared North Carolina bison with black garlic risotta, asparagus puree, sauteed baby carrots, and Merlot wine reduction

That's me plating up dessert!

Dessert: Chocolate mousse and caramel jelly cake, almond financier, cherry-Port compote, Port reduction, and sour cream ice cream

Mignardise: Strawberries and cream with toasted hazelnuts

Our happy diners!

Hope you enjoyed the feast for your eyes! 

Dessert Trials

The past few weeks have been super busy!!  The best part was trying out some brand new desserts!  A good friend of mine is going on a mission trip this summer and decided to auction off his awesome chef skills to raise some money for the trip.  Six course dinner for a good cause anyone?

Well, it's been a while since the two of us were in the kitchen together.  So I couldn't resist offering up my services to throw down some yummy dessert.  Four desserts went head to head to see which one would win out.  Thanks to some lovely family and friends who were kind enough to lend me their taste buds, we narrowed it down to the chosen one!  Here they are:

"Nutty Banana" - Brown butter cake, caramelized banana, rum ice cream and candied peanuts

 

"Samoa" - Chocolate cake, toasted marshmallow, chocolate tuile, caramel ice cream, toasted coconut 

 



 "Oh, Honey" - Cornmeal almond cake, almond bark, citrus lime crisp, honey ice cream, candied citrus zest

 

AND THE WINNER IS...

 

"Chocolate Covered Cherry" - Chocolate mousse and caramel jelly cake, cherry port compote, almond financier, sour cream ice cream, port reduction

Can't wait to see what the guests think of the dessert.  I hope they have just as much fun eating it as I did making it!!

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Body After Baby...Step 2

I must admit that I was pretty proud of myself last week.  I set my breakfast, snack and lunch eating schedule and stuck to it...except for that one stop I made at Chick fil A yesterday but one cheat won't kill me...right?

With just the change in my diet, overall I feel better, have (a little) more energy than normal and have lost a pound.  YEAH!  So with Step 1 successfully underway, time to add on Step 2...exercise.

UGH!  If you are anything like me, this is the part that trips you up.  Someone once told me that all I have to do is find an exercise I like and the rest will fall into place naturally.  Here's the thing...I actually like working out.  I've found several different ways to get exercise that I enjoy, and every time I complete said task I feel great about myself.  Except most of the things that I enjoy are a touch on the time consuming side.  I've never found a class I don't like.  Yoga, pilates, Zumba...all good!  And I LOVE to swim!  The thing is before I go into one of those workout sessions, after or even sometimes during, I start thinking of all the other things I could be doing with that hour or so.  There's laundry that needs to be done, dishes that need to be washed, toys that need to be put away.  Like so many other moms out there, I have a hard time putting the "necessary" things aside long enough to do something to make myself better and healthier.  No one else puts that guilt on but me.  And no one would mind if I took those hours to better myself.  Still, I knew if I was going to get into a routine that would actually help me, I needed to find something that I could do at home, while with the baby if needed and would be over in less than 20 mins. 

I went on a search for the perfect plan for me.  I have several friends on Facebook who are Beachbody coaches, so I started there.  I have the PiYo program already, which I like, but some of the workouts are a little long winded.  I also wasn't a fan of having to pay for something...again...that I knew deep down I would only use intermittently.  So onward I pressed.

I found a few free plans online that met my time restrictions, but you needed weights and ropes and stretchy pieces of material to stretch with.  I knew I was being picky wanting something that only used what I already had laying around the house...but I KNEW something had to be out there.  And that's when I found...

 

Bikini Body Mommy!  The creator of this site is a woman named Briana Christine.  She not only has a website where you can get 90 days worth of FREE workouts, but she has a great Facebook page and You Tube channel where she demonstrates the workouts for you.  As of right now, she is up to 4 different 90 day challenges, I'm working through number 3.  The daily workouts are quick, easy and (most importantly) kick your booty!  Better yet...they are all FREE!  She does have customizable dietary options that you have to pay for...but for the most part...everything is free.  She also goes day by day through the workouts herself and posts to Facebook to help her followers hold themselves accountable.  Her new group starts May 4, so if that's something you are interested in, head on over and check it out!  Its pretty awesome.

NO GUILT.  What a concept.  One I know I need to work on, but one step at a time I'm getting there.  So it's been two weeks since I started working on getting my body back and I've only worked out two days.  This week I shoot for 3 or 4.  Baby steps...little by little...I'm going to get there and be happier and healthier for it!

Happy Birthday Momma!

This past Wednesday was my mom's birthday.  April 15th...tax day...Happy Birthday, right?

In order to soften the tax blow, I decided to make her a very special birthday treat this year.  Her favorite dessert is Key Lime Pie.  I had heard of Key Lime Cake before but never tried it out.  Seemed like the perfect time to test out a new cake flavor!

Dinner was set with some family and close friends, one of which is gluten free so I decided to make the cake gluten free as well so she could have some. Can't leave people out on cake now can we?!?

I found a good looking recipe for the cake and decided to fill it with key lime curd to up the tart factor so that it would closely resemble the flavor of the pie.  I then made a marshmallow meringue frosting to top it with.  Although this type of frosting is pretty soft and wouldn't work well for any real type of fine piping work, it was AMAZING!!  Way better than buttercream in my opinion.  I plan on using it over and over again!  I also coated the outside of the cake with gluten free graham cracker crumbs to add the last little element of a key lime pie.  I must say that I was pretty dang pleased with the outcome!

To say the cake was a success would have been an understatement.  The birthday girl was happy (most important) as was everyone else at the table...except the hubs...who doesn't like lime and isn't a big cake person either...can't win them all I guess!  We even shared some with our two waitresses who "just happened" to bring over two more plates than we really needed.  The little that was left at the end of the night went to work with my mom the next day where it was gobbled up by the lucky staff who were fast enough to get a piece.  Everyone wanted to know the recipe...so...without further ado...ENJOY!

Gluten Free Key Lime Cake with Marshmallow Frosting (adapted from Annie Eats and Always with Butter)

CAKE:
3 c gluten free flour (THIS is my favorite.  You can swap it into any recipe 1:1 without adding anything!)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter; room temperature
2 1/2 c sugar
1 lime; zest only
4 eggs; room temperature
1 3/4 c buttermilk; room temperature
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 - In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. 
2 - In the bowl of a mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter until light ad fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the zest and blend.  Add sugar 1/2 c at a time, mixing well with each addition.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.  Scrape down the bowl well.
3 - Combine buttermilk and both extracts.  Alternate adding flour mix and buttermilk mix to the mixer in three batches, beginning and ending with your flour mix.  Scrape down the bowl well.
4 - Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans and divide mixture evenly between them.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 mins until cake tester comes out clean.  Leave in pans for 10 mins before inverting onto a rack to cool completely.

KEY LIME CURD: (This gives you a little more than you need to fill the cake but extra is always good!)
3 eggs
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c key lime juice
4 T butter

1 - In a small saucepan, combine eggs and sugar.  Whisk together well.  Whisk in key lime juice.  Place over low heat and cook, stirring constantly until mixture is warm.  It is important to constantly whisk over low heat to avoid scrambling your eggs! 
2 - Once mixture is warm, whisk in butter one tablespoon at a time, allowing each to melt before adding the next.  Once all the butter is added, continue to cook, whisking constantly until the mixture reaches 170 degrees.  If you don't have a thermometer, cook until it leaves a thick coat on the back of a spoon.
3 - If you think you might have lumps, strain your curd.  Otherwise, cool completely over an ice bath, stirring occasionally.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 1/4 c sugar
3 egg whites; room temperature
1/4 c water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 T vanilla

1 - In the bowl of a mixer, combine sugar, egg whites, water and cream of tartar.  Whisk until very foamy.
2 - Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water (creating a double boiler) and whisk until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is well warmed through.  Add vanilla and put the mixing bowl back on te stand mixer.  Whisk on high speed until mixture forms stiff peaks.