Piece of Cake Pie

We ate/made a good amount of food last week. I have a few iPhone photos to share with you:



beef stew, chocolate pudding pie on pi day
spring colors, blackberry thumbprint cookies
multitude of muffins, fudge-licious brownies
The thumbprint cookies, muffins, and brownies were all made at work, just so you don't think we indulged overwhelmingly! Although I did make some peanut butter - chocolate chip - m&m cookies at home that aren't pictured...

And in honor of Pi Day (3.14), I made a chocolate pudding pie on Wednesday. I didn't want to make an apple pie because I prefer berry pies, personally... but it's not the season for berries, and I wasn't really feeling the heaviness of a custard pie. After a bit of searching I found a recipe for chocolate pudding pie over on Smitten Kitchen. Deb always has the best recipes!




To be honest, Shawn and I aren't the biggest fans of pie. He's a cake guy, and I'm a tart girl- I'll take a chocolate ganache tart or lemon tart over a slice of pie any day... but it was Pi Day! So I had to make some sort of pie, and what's better than chocolate pudding pie?! Especially topped with a generous amount of whipped cream... I don't hear anyone complaining. And there's still more than half of it left over... this is why I rarely make big desserts at home; we can't finish them between just the two of us. It is exceptionally light and delicious though!




Did you indulge in a slice of pie for Pi Day?

Mid-Week Weekend

This week, Thursday was our weekend - aka, our day off together. Since we usually only get one day off together per week (if we're lucky), we try to make the most of it. Yesterday was one of those days.

I started the day off the best way that I know how - by making cookies! Shawn sometimes brings me home some leftover peanut butter chips and mini m&ms from work, so I tossed those into the batter this time, along with some oats. Lately, I've been straying from my tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipe and switching up various elements of it to see how it changes the outcome. This time I used a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour, since I've heard that makes for chewier cookies. I also like to change the ratio of brown sugar to white sugar, also for chewier cookies. The addition of oats tends to make the cookies not spread as much, so that's why these look so tiny!


After the cookies came out of the oven, we walked down to our local movie theatre (it's less than half a mile up the road - how awesome is that?!) and saw our first movie in over three years: The Secret World of Arrietty. I'm glad it was just as beautiful as expected because it would have been a huge disappointment to break our three year no-theatre streak for a bad movie. We're both big fans of Miyazaki's animated films and this one definitely didn't disappoint.

Aside from the movie though, the highlight of yesterday was that I made my very first hard crusted bread loaf! A few weeks ago my mother found me this beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven that was just dying to have a loaf of bread baked in it. Well, Mom, I finally used it!



One of my favorite bakers/bloggers, Joy The Baker, posted a recipe for Spicy Garlic Bread and it looked and sounded far too good, so of course I just had to make it. Here's (some of) what goes into a spicy garlic loaf:


My loaf didn't turn out quite as pretty as hers, but dammit, it was just as tasty as I was hoping it would be! Also, I don't think it looks too bad for a first attempt! I just have to work on my smoothing & kneading skills... also, the loaf explodes in the oven! Look at how much bigger it is coming out than it was going in! (I'm sorry if that just sounds like a terrible dirty joke - keep it clean, folks!)


We enjoyed it with a chicken caesar salad for dinner (homemade bread and homemade dressing, that's just how we roll). There's nothing better than a simple meal with lots of garlic and fresh herbs and greens. At this rate, we could open up our own restaurant soon! ;)



...now for something completely different, here's a peek at what we had for dinner Wednesday night:


Tasty tasty burgers. But not just any burgers; these had cheese and onions sprinkled throughout. We're fancy like that; you should know this by now! Also, I seriously can't wait until we have a grill. Burgers on the stovetop just don't compare.

Have an amazing weekend!



PS. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who left me feedback on the sandals post. It was much appreciated. The general consensus were the Merrell Hennas, which as much as I love, I'm going to hold off on buying for now. I just can't fathom spending that much on sandals, no matter how amazing they are. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they go on sale some time over the next few months. In the mean time, my mom actually found the Simple sandals in purple on another website. I think those can hold me over until the Merrells go on sale :)

A Week In October

I've been trying to be better about updating the blog on a more regular basis... but I must not be doing a very good job because this is another 'this week in photos' recap post. Eh, nothing wrong with those I guess!

On Sunday my family and I celebrated my mom's birthday with a lamb and potato dinner and a dark chocolate raspberry truffle cake that I made just for the occasion.





On Tuesday I made a vanilla pound cake that turned out beautifully - buttery and dense yet with a soft light crumb and crunchy exterior. The best part is, it gets even better as it sits!


On Wednesday I took that same pound cake and turned some of it into french toast. It was just as indulgent and satisfying as it sounds.


Later that day I also went to the farmer's market and brought home some of the last summer corn. The farmer threw in a few extra because these were much smaller than usual. We love sweet corn! (evidenced by a very similar meal just last week) There's just nothing like local corn on the cob.


On Thursday I had a fantastic dinner with my mom at the restaurant where I worked in their pastry department for 1.5 years prior. The dinner was three courses followed by a buffet of various intricately constructed desserts... so tasty! There are no pictures from that night but I thought it was still worth mentioning.

Oh, and at some point in the week I also finally uploaded the photos I took at Longwood Gardens. You can check them out on flickr if you'd like! Shawn still has to sort through his. Here are a few of my favorites:







And that pretty much sums up the week! Here's to the weekend.

September floats on by...

Lately my posts have been more photo-heavy and less wordy...
But you know what? I'm ok with that. There's not much to say these days anyway.


Shawn's birthday was last week. He never likes to make a big fuss about it but this year I made him a big cake (yellow cake with chocolate sour cream frosting, to be exact) and got him a few unexpected gifts. He was pleasantly surprised!



We also made meatballs with a side of tortellini for his birthday dinner - quite possibly the best meatballs Shawn has made yet!



I realized I never talk much about what I bake at work. Honestly, I always forget to bring my camera in with me! Here's a peek at what I'll usually make on a weekly basis.... cookies, muffins, scones, and some sort of loaf. And yep, that's all the workspace I have. Hey, you don't need a whole lot of space if you keep it organized properly!



Oh, and pies! I made a lot of pies this summer using up all sorts of fresh fruits, but I'm really excited about making some pies for autumn!



Zucchini bread gets its close-up. I honestly had never made or really even eaten zucchini bread until this summer, but now I think it's absolutely wonderful! It's a lot of fun to bake with vegetables too.


...Of course, what's a post on here without some gratuitous pictures of what we made for dinner?


Mini pizzas made on naan bread! My parents made some the last time I visited and I thought "What a genius idea!" Indeed. We used Trader Joe's frozen naan (warmed in the oven before adding toppings) topped with tomato sauce, red and green peppers, onion, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.



This week we also splurged and bought some steaks which we paired with homemade sour cream mashed potatoes and green beans. Yummy! Shawn cooked those steaks perfectly!



Oh, I know that's not food up there, don't be silly! But I was too proud of myself not to share a photo of this pillow case I 'fixed'. There was nothing wrong with it to start, it was just made for a bigger pillow that we no longer have, so I sewed it down to fit this smaller pillow. It was a simple sewing project, I can't believe it took me weeks to get motivated to do it! I'm so proud of myself every time I look at the bed now though :)

Expect an onslaught of photos on our flickr soon; we went to Longwood Gardens yesterday and took over 200 photos each! We're so excited to share them once we sort through them all.

Lazy Rainy Days

By now you've all probably heard about Hurricane Irene, and I'm glad I don't have to give you all the details because honestly, I'm tired of hearing about it. Irene is all anyone could talk about at work for the last few days: "Oh, have you heard about the hurricane?" "So how about this storm, huh?" "Are you prepared for Irene?" ... yes, I've heard about the hurricane. What storm? All I see is rain. And I'm as prepared as I feel I need to be. I bought a 24-pack of bottled water and three cans of Campbell's Select Harvest soups, then Shawn and I chuckled about everyone else stocking up like crazy on things such as bread and frozen and microwave meals... uh, Hello? Anybody home? If the power goes out, your freezer and microwave are going to be pretty darn useless, don't you think?

Anyways, I thought I'd give you all and update and say - we're ok. Our area wasn't hit with much other than lots and lots of rain, extensive wind, and a power flicker in the middle of the night. Really, nothing we haven't dealt with before.


Honestly, the only downside to this whole Irene business is that I'm at home all by lonesome today while Shawn's working the afternoon away. Ok, maybe I worded that all wrong; the downside isn't that I'm home, it's that my work day got cancelled and Shawn's didn't. So instead of both working the afternoon away, or both being at home together... well, you get the point.


Lame-o. I've had to find little ways to pass the time; so I made a batch of oat & maple scones (they're so adorably tiny and packed full of moist maple yumminess!). I also put the extra effort into making lunch - boiled some pasta, cooked up some spinach, reheated a little pasta sauce, and fried up an egg to throw on top (actually, I fried up two eggs because the yolk broke on the first one... and seriously, what's the point of topping something with a fried egg that's not a little runny?)


Next, I plan on catching up on the latest few episodes of My Drunk Kitchen. Maybe after that I'll be more motivated to do a simple sewing project I've had sitting around (taking a big pillowcase and shrinking it to fit a different pillow; so simple but I'm so lazy.) And who knows? Maybe that small step into sewing world will motivate me to start one of the many other sewing projects on my list... doubtful.

All in all, I'm in agreement with Shawn's initial assessment of the storm: the media hyped everything up to get people to spend some money and give the economy a much needed boost. Well played, media, well played.

Good Ole Granola

Lets start this week off on a lighter note, with deep breaths and clear nostrils, in spite of last week. And in my opinion, there's no better start to a morning than a big bowl of granola with a little bit of plain yogurt and honey thrown in....



Granola is super easy to make - it's just a combination of dry ingredients with a smaller percentage of sweet, wet ingredients. In the pastry kitchen I worked at, I learned the basic granola equation.

Ok, lets back-track a little - even though I've been actively baking for 3+ years now, it wasn't until last year that I really started messing around with the math aspect of baking and understanding the science behind everything. Just as is true of any equation, you need to understand the basic elements before you can start switching things around... I've only recently begun switching up ratios in recipes instead of just switching out ingredients. It's been a lot of fun and although my 'experiments' don't always turn out as planned, they're at least still edible and I'm learning new things in the process! Anyways, back to the granola equation. About a year ago the pastry chef I was working for broke down granola for me into four parts and percentages... bear with me here.

First, you have your dry ingredients. These should comprise of:

50% rolled oats and 50% combination of other dry ingredients
...including but certainly not limited to: cereals (puffed rice is common), nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, and of course some sort of brown or natural sugar if you're so inclined.

Now, the dry ingredients only make up one portion of the granola equation. You also have to add some wet ingredients in there - those are what make everything brown and crisp up so nicely. Your wet ingredients should comprise of:

50% oil and 50% liquid sugar
For oil it's generally preferable to use a neutral-flavored oil such as: canola, safflower, or vegetable oil. And liquid sugar would be anything sweet but not dry, try: maple syrup, molasses, honey, agave nectar, apple sauce... something of those sorts. (I think peanut butter technically counts as a 'liquid sugar' too.)

Still with me? There's one more part to this equation - how much of the dry ingredients do you use and how much of the wet ingredients do you use? A good standard to go by is:

5 cups of dry ingredients to 1 cup of wet ingredients

So if you really want to break it down, your granola should be:

40% rolled oats
40% other dry ingredients/mix-ins
10% oil
10% liquid sugar
___________________
100% granola

Also, keep in mind that mix-ins like nuts and coconut can be baked, but things like dried fruit and chocolate should only be mixed into the granola once it's been baked and cooled completely... otherwise, you'll just have a huge mess on your sheet pan, and no one hates a mess more than me! (I'm not kidding - ask my family and coworkers... I'm super obsessive compulsive when it comes to my kitchen space.)


I store my homemade granola in an re-used store bought granola container! It just makes sense.

So there you have it! Was that too much to take in for some simple granola? It makes sense to me, so I hope I explained it in a way that makes sense to you too. Granola is so versatile! But if you don't want to think about it as much as I do, here's the recipe for the granola I made myself last week - keep in mind that it's not overly sweet because I like to sweeten my granola as-needed, so add a little extra brown sugar if you have a sweet tooth.

Basic Granola

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons peanut butter
5 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup raisins

- Heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix your dry ingredients together in a large bowl and mix your wet ingredients in a separate small bowl.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is well coated and combined.
- Spread the mixture out onto a sheet pan and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, or until everything is nicely golden and mostly dry. (Sidenote: I also stir my granola around with a spatula every ten minutes or so to ensure even baking.)
- Let your granola cool completely before mixing in any dried fruit or chocolate. Store your granola in an airtight container and it should keep for a while! Mine doesn't last very long though because I like to snack :)

The Real Double-Stuff

Remember the other day when I teased you with this picture?



Well today I'll be nice and share the recipe with you. I don't think I need to say much about these cookies, I mean, it's an oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookie, what more is there really to say?

'Oreo' Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of finely chopped chocolate (mini chocolate chips would also work well)
12-15 oreos, or similar sandwich cookie varieties.


- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream the butter and sugars together until smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then the vanilla extract.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then add all these dry ingredients to your wet ones until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, then form your dough into balls. I use my cookie scoop to make sure they're even, but you can use a spoon and your eyes to make balls that are about 1 tablespoon in size. Once you have all of your cookie dough balled-up, the fun starts!
- Take an oreo and use two balls of cookie dough to cover it; the best method I found was to put one ball of dough on top of the oreo and one on the bottom, then gently flatten everything between your palms and work/mold the dough down around the oreo cookie. After doing a few of them I felt like I was working with play-doh... and you really can treat it as such! Just work the dough around the cookie however you need to make sure the oreo is fully covered.
- Arrange your super cookies about an inch apart on your cookie sheet and bake them for 16 minutes, or until the cookie dough is golden brown and cracked on top.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan until you deem them solid enough to move to a cooling rack, then let them cool completely. These cookies taste great warm, but they taste even better if you have the patience to let them cool down completely. (The oreos are more intact once the cookie is completely cool!)
- Enjoy!

Super Cookie: deconstructed



If anyone's curious, I used Trader Joes' Joe Joes instead of Oreos. But I'm sure you're not surprised.

Monday shenan-agains

We don't have very much to blog about these days... life has been pleasantly quiet around here. The tease of warm weather did get us out of our winter funk and back to our (almost)daily walks around the neighborhood though... and the neighborhood squirrels are back in action! We caught one happily bulking up his tree-trunk nest the other day, and this morning I had one greet me at the kitchen window while happily munching on a bread crust... these squirrels keep us way too entertained.


I also got some happy baking in this weekend - it was my dad's birthday on Friday so I made a shaker lemon pie. One of my customers at work had made it not long ago and insisted that I should too, and since meyer lemons are in season lately I decided to go for it.

The pie was a w e s o m e. Not too sweet, not too bitter, just awesome. The butter crust smelled delicious while it was baking too. The pie was a big hit - we almost finished it off between four people, but I was able to save two slices for later before they got devoured too. I'll definitely be making it again (maybe soon, since I still have two meyer lemons in the fridge!) but I want to get a mandolin first, I just couldn't get those lemons sliced thin enough with our not-quite-the-sharpest knives.


Another meal worth mentioning is the beef stew Shawn made while I was at work Saturday afternoon. Even though we got it back in December, it's the first thing we've made in our new slow cooker! The beef was super tender and moist, and although we had no celery to add to it, the celery salt Shawn's mom gave us for Christmas worked wonders in terms of flavor. I can't wait to slow-cook some more stuff!


But back to the baking - I promised Shawn a chocolate cheesecake for Valentine's day (since food is our favorite gift) but I never quite got around to making it. So after devouring that lemon pie this weekend I finally started on the decadent cheesecake. I'm happy to say that Shawn was pleasantly satisfied - it has the texture of a light chocolate mousse cake but it's not too heavy on the tongue or stomach. Cheesecake isn't one of my favorite desserts, I'm a cheesecake purist and don't really want anything other than graham crust and sweet tangy cream cheese when it comes right down to it. But this wasn't for me, it was for Shawn, and I'm just glad he enjoyed it :)



On a closing note, check out our latest sans-tv setup. Shawn got tired of not being able to use his computer while watching 'tv' on the big monitor, so he set up a dual monitor system.... now we're really wired. Unfortunately, it's not the most attractive set-up, but it'll do for now. It makes us feel like the geeks we know we really are.

Until next time!