“My love is pizza shaped. Won’t you have a slice? It’s circular, so there’s enough to go around.
” -Dora J. Arod Last week I was back in Upstate New York where I grew up, helping my mom pack up her house of 51 years. It was at times wonderful, trying, sad and good. Maybe some of you have had a similar experience helping a parent move. I also got to see my brother, sister and their families, which was a delight for me. I don't get back there as often as I would like. One of the highlights was showing my nieces and nephew how to make homemade pizza one night as we celebrated my youngest niece's 11th birthday!. We had so much fun! They took to it like naturals, too. That got me thinking that I hadn't made pizza at home for a very long time. Now that we have a couple gluten free people in my household, we don't make it as often as we once did. So this weekend with some free time on my hands I thought I'd make one of my favorite pizzas-salad topped pizza. It is just baby mixed salad greens tossed lightly in a nice lemony vinaigrette sitting atop a sauce-less cheese pizza. It makes a wonderful lunch or light dinner It is super simple especially if you start with purchased quality dough from your favorite store, pizzeria or Italian deli. I usually make my own dough, but if I didn't plan ahead, I really like to use the fresh dough they sell at Whole Foods. Salad Topped Pizza (makes 2 -10 inch pizzas) 1 lb fresh pizza dough (purchased or homemade) sea salt coarse ground black pepper crushed red pepper flakes 2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella 2 Tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan cheese plus more for shaving 4 cups lightly packed mixed baby salad greens or baby arugula 2 Tablespoons Extra virgin Olive Oil 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic, peeled all-purpose flour for dusting parchment paper 1. About an hour before making pizzas, place pizza stones inside oven and preheat oven to 550 degrees Farenheit (if you don't have a pizza stone, I have also had good success using inverted, heavy duty baking sheets as my "stones".). 2. Remove dough from fridge*. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough evenly into two pieces. 3. Take each half and fold the dough edges into the middle to make a rough ball. With the rough side down, roll the dough, using the counter as an aid, into 2 nice smooth balls. Place the balls on an oiled cookie sheet, several inches apart. Brush the tops of the dough ball with olive oil as well. Let rest on counter for about 1 hour. 4. After an hour taking one ball of dough at a time, dip both sides of the dough ball in flour. Take a sheet of parchment, sprinkle it lightly with flour. Place the floured ball of dough on it and using your finger tips, dimple the dough. 5. Now pick up the dough with both hands (lightly floured) on the top edge of the dough. Using two hands, lift the dough in the air and letting gravity help you, spin the dough clockwise moving your hands around, until the dough has stretched out to about a 10" round. You can also keep it flat on your floured paper and stretch it by hand on the paper. I think you get a more even crust this way I demonstrate, but do what you are comfortable with. Just remember to keep your hands on the thick outer part of the dough and just allow the pull of gravity to do all the work, keeping the dough round in constant motion If your dough is really elastic. You may have to place the dough down on the floured paper and let it rest several minutes before trying again. Repeat with the other ball of dough. Also do not worry about getting a perfect round. A rustic shape is just as delicious! 6. Once the dough has reached desired size, lay it gently back down on the floured parchment paper. 7. Lightly brush the tops with olive oil. Sprinkle each dough round lightly with a small pinch each of sea salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. Top with mozzarella. Sprinkle each with 1 Tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan and drizzle very lightly with additional olive oil (optional). 8. Trim parchment with scissors all around dough. 9. Using a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet, transfer pizzas to preheated pizza stones inside oven, parchment paper and all. This is my fool-proof "trick" for building and transferring a pizza into the oven. Works like a charm every time. 10. Let pizzas bake about 6-10 minutes. (Disclaimer: Every oven is a little different, so please check on your pizzas, rotate them as needed from top to bottom (using peel or rimless baking sheet) or rotate them around on their stone to ensure even baking. Your pizzas are done when the crust is golden and crackly, cheese is bubbly and maybe lightly browned in spots, and bottom of pizza is nicely golden. 11. While pizzas are baking whip up salad dressing: whisk together 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, lemon juice, pinch each salt and pepper, garlic and Dijon. Set aside. 12. When done remove pizzas from oven and transfer to plates. 13. Immediately toss salad greens with dressing to taste. 14. Once dressed, top hot pizzas with salad greens. Shave Parmesan cheese on top and serve. Dig in! * if you are using home made dough (I have several favorites I will share with you another time) my suggestion is to let it rise slowly in refrigerator for several hours and possibly over-night to develop the best flavor. Don't punch it down, just gently divide the dough and roll into balls as instructed. The time on the counter is less about a second rise than it is about warming up the dough closer to room temp. However, if you have beat down the dough, you may need to let it sit out longer once you form into balls to allow the nice air bubbles to form again. These give the dough great character and lightness.
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"You don't need a silver fork to eat good food."- the late great Paul Prudhomme I just found this quote, and it perfectly sums up how I feel about food- fresh, simple and delicious. I don't want the caviar and fancy techno cooking (not that I wouldn't enjoy eating that- well, not the caviar-have had it-not impressed, but it's not central to how I feel about food and cooking). I think Mother Nature got pretty much everything right. Think of a ripe peach. Really, can you improve on that? I don't think so. It's also fitting for this recipe I have to share with you today. The humble pork rib. It's tough and not much to look at, but transforms beautifully with a little time and inexpensive seasoning. I know it is probably blasphemous to suggest oven BBQ to anyone from certain regions of this country, but I am a working mother of two with other interests and no smoker in my backyard. Granted these ribs will lack the sweet touch of smoky goodness only real hardwood will give you, but they are satisfying and delicious if you are a rib lover. And they couldn't be easier. You do need to plan to start them at least 24-48 hours ahead of when you want to cook them as they need time to let the seasoning work its magic. You can scale this recipe up or down as long as you have the oven capacity, in case you want to make them for a crowd. The spice seasoning should be adequate for several racks of baby backs and will store fine for up to 4 months in an airtight container in your spice cabinet (would be great on BBQ or Beer can Chicken, too). The smoked paprika and smoked salt help bring a touch of that wood-smoked flavor to the ribs, but you can substitute sweet paprika and more kosher salt if you prefer. Ready to get started? Oven-Baked BBQ Ribs -serves 4-6 2 Racks of baby back ribs Yellow Mustard (such as French's) Seasoning Rub (recipe below) Barbecue Sauce (your favorite or my recipe below) 1. Lay out a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil (long enough to enclose the ribs completely) for each rack of ribs preparing. 2. Spread a thin layer of yellow mustard on top and bottom of ribs. 3. Sprinkle seasoning rub all over both sides of the ribs. Gently pat it down into mustard to adhere. 4. Wrap securely in foil, place on a baking tray and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. 5. Remove ribs from fridge 30 minutes before cooking. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place ribs, on tray, into oven and bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until ribs are very tender. Remove ribs from oven. Preheat broiler. 6. Unwrap ribs and slather tops generously with barbecue sauce. Return ribs to oven and broil until caramelized. Watch carefully so the sauce doesn't burn! 7. Remove from oven, cut into portions (I do every 2-3 ribs), serve with your favorite BBQ sides such as coleslaw, corn and watermelon! Be sure to have extra napkins on hand-this is messy good stuff! ♥ Barbecue Seasoning Spice Rub (Adapted from How to Grill by Steven Raichlen) 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1/2 cup smoked paprika 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons coarse ground black pepper 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt 2 Tablespoon hickory or apple-wood smoked salt 4 teaspoons garlic powder 4 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Mix well. Store in an air-tight container until ready to use. Sweet and Zesty Barbecue Sauce -makes approx 1 1/2 cups (Don't be put off by the long ingredient list. It's mostly just measure and dump) 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic 1/4 cup minced onion 1 cup Ketchup (I like Heinz the best) 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 teaspoons molasses 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or smoked salt) 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons) 1 teaspoon yellow mustard pinch crushed red pepper 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme dash or two of liquid smoke (optional) 1. Over medium heat saute onions and garlic in a little vegetable oil until softened and translucent. 2. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. 3. Cook, stirring often, until sauce is reduced and thickened. Cool slightly before transferring to glass container. Store in refrigerator for up to a month. thick and rich and zesty- just the way I like it! : )
"When life hands you lemons, make lemon sugar cookies." -me : ) I missed posting a recipe last week. Suddenly life has gotten very busy for me. We decided to put our house on the market again. It was on the market briefly last fall, but didn't sell. So we decided to let the holidays pass and try again this spring. And here it is, spring (though today Colorado is in the midst of a crazy spring snowstorm)! So this past week we had to get it ready for pictures for the MLS listing and edit out our personal stuff. Worst of all I had to really clear out my art studio space which makes me so sad to have so much of it inaccessible until the house sells. It's also my daughter's high school soccer season and with two-3 games a week, the hours/days just go by. I know, my story is nothing new. We are all trying to juggle life and responsibilities with the fun stuff (personally I am lobbying for a responsibility to fun ratio that's a little more evenly split-lol). A couple weeks ago we met up with some old friends who had moved out of state and I made them a few goodies, including these Lemon Sugar Cookies. They are really simple but cheerful and bright with that nice fresh lemon taste. My two most favorite flavors in desserts are chocolate (duh) and lemon. Although hands down, anything chocolaty is my favorite, sometimes it's nice to have something less heavy and with the bright flavor only a lemon can bring to the party. Anyhow, this recipe is a great spring sweet to add to your repertoire. Do you have any go to recipes that just shout spring to you? Please share! And if you like this cookie recipe, please post a comment. Introduce yourself and say hi. I'd love to meet you! Lemon Sugar Cookies 3 3/4 cups ( 1 lb 2 ounces) all -purpose flour (stir and spoon into measuring cup method) 1 Tablespoon baking powder* 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups (14 ounces) granulated pure cane sugar zest of 3 lemons (use this tool-so easy!) juice of 1 lemon, set aside 2 large eggs 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract yellow or plain sanding sugar 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour , baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. 2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine butter, lemon zest and sugar. Cream together on low speed until well combined. 3. Add in eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and mix well. Reduce speed to low. 4. Stir in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer. 5. Scoop out dough and dip the top only in sanding sugar of your choice. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Dip your (clean, of course) pointer and middle finger into lemon juice and pat down the sugar on top of each dough ball. You can use a pastry brush, if you prefer not to get your fingers sticky. 6. Bake for 10- 12 minutes until lightly golden around edges and set. Do not over-bake. I know they aren't much to look at , but they sure are tasty! And just in case a plain cookie isn't enticing enough on its own, consider making ice cream sandwiches by encasing a scoop of raspberry, blackberry or blueberry sorbet between two of these babies. Not a bad idea, I know! ;)
*Note: I live at about 5,00o feet above sea level, so I decrease the baking powder to 2 1/2 teaspoons, in case that is of use to anyone else. “Baking and love go hand in hand, for as one bakes a tasty treat and fills the room with its sweet aroma, the true joy is to take what has been made and share it with another.” - Heather Wolf, Kipnuk has a Birthday It's true, baking is no fun if the final result isn't going to be shared with anyone. Over the weekend we took a long road trip from our home in Colorado to visit our son who is at the University of Nebraska. He is playing club rugby for UNL and we hadn't had a chance to see him play yet. This past weekend was our opportunity, and we'd been looking forward to it for weeks. I'm firmly in the "food is love" camp, and so I wanted to bring him a treat that would survive the car ride, have a good shelf life and be conducive to sharing. Gooey Peanut Butter M&M Oat Bars fit the bill perfectly. This recipe is an adaptation of one I have been making for a long time. It originally appeared in a little cookbook I bought at a Southern Living at Home party years ago but called for regular Milk Chocolate M&M's. So feel free to make that substitution if you prefer. Each variation is pretty outrageously good! Gooey Peanut Butter M&M Oat Bars- makes 1- 9x13" pan 1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted (you could use dry roasted unsalted peanuts, too) but I prefer pecans) 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (einkorn flour or gluten free flour may be substituted) 2 cups Old-Fashioned (Rolled) oats (use gluten free , if desired) 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled* 12 ounces (approx a full 1 1/2 cups) Peanut Butter M&M's , divided (or a mixture of Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate, per your taste) 1- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk 1 Tablespoon creamy peanut butter (I like Jif) 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9x13" baking pan with aluminum foil; lightly grease or spray with non-stick baking spray. Set aside. 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine pecans, flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder and oats. Mix on low to combine. 3. On low speed stir in butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. Press the remainder evenly into the prepared 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 10 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. 4. Meanwhile, place 8 ounces (approx 1 full cup) of Peanut Butter M&M's in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for 30 second intervals, pressing on candies with back of wooden spoon to mash between intervals, until candies are pretty much all melted with pieces of the candy shell speckling the mix). Stir in sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and peanut butter. Stir until well combined. Pour mixture over cooled base, leaving a small border around all sides. 5. Combine reserved crumb mixture with remaining 4 ounces (approximately a full 1/2 cup) M&M candies. 6. Sprinkle crumbs evenly over chocolate-peanut butter mixture. Press lightly to adhere. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until bars are set and nicely golden. 7. Let bars cool completely before cutting (to cut, remove bars from pan using foil ends. Peel off foil and cut bars into desired size). Bars keep well for 3-4 days, wrapped tightly in foil, at room temperature. They freeze beautifully, too, wrapped air-tight in foil and placed inside zip top freezer bags for up to 2 months. * Note: if using Einkorn flour reduce butter to 7 ounces. Proceed as for bars above.
"Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." - Don Kardong Happy Easter! I hope you enjoyed a beautiful day, if you celebrate.Here in Northern Colorado the day started off a bit chilly , but ended gloriously-a wonderful spring day. My oldest wasn't home for Easter. He was on Spring Break from college this past week, but had to go back early for his job. So we celebrated Easter while he was still home. That made me feel much better. Since we still had leftovers to eat, I played a little in the kitchen since I didn't have to do much cooking. Remember last week I posted the recipe for White Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream here? Well while I was making the ice cream I had the idea to try and make ice cream bars on a whim to see what would happen. I had these cool molds. I bought them on clearance at the end of last summer and never used them. Then when thinking about how to coat them I thought about a homemade "Magic Shell" recipe I had tried previously. Put two and two together, and well, it's a pretty fun outcome. I'll walk you through how I made them. Chocolate-Covered Ice Cream Bars 1 recipe White Chocolate Mint Chocolate Ice cream 1 recipe "Magic Shell" chocolate Coating 1 .Prepare ice cream according to directions. 2. Once ice cream has finished churning, spoon ice cream into molds, tapping down on counter from time to time to get ice cream to settle all the way into the molds. Cover molds and place sticks into ice cream as shown (the molds came with them, or you can buy them at craft stores- I stamped them with permanent ink to add a fun touch). Place into freezer immediately . Freeze until firm or at least 24 hours. 3. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Remove mold from freezer and run quickly under hot water just enough to loosen ice cream from mold. You will need to work quickly. Place bars on parchment lined sheet and place in freezer once again to firm back up, at least an hour. 4. Meanwhile prepare Chocolate "magic Shell" coating according to directions. It stays fluid for a very long time, so make it ahead and let it cool to room temperature for best results. 5. Remove ice cream bars from freezer. Place a clean sheet of parchment on the cold tray, removing the sheet with ice cream on it to your work space. Working quickly dip bars into chocolate coating to completely cover. Place onto lined sheet pan to set. Repeat until all are coated. Return immediately to freezer (work in batches if your bars are starting to melt to quickly). 6. Once they bars are hardened, store in ziploc bags in the freezer, as air-tight as possible, for up to two weeks (if they last that long). See that, you don't even have to wait for the Ice Cream man to come around!♥ Note: Store any unused "magic shell" in a jar, covered, in the refrigerator. It will keep, refrigerated, for several months. Gently heat to liquefy. It is also great to use for chocolate-covered frozen bananas (hint, hint) or to dip ice cream cones in.
"It's like peanut butter and chocolate. Each is great, but they're better together." -Richard Whitehead I'm dating myself, but anyone else remember the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial that had that line in it? In the end it was a good thing though! Chocolate and peanut butter together is a match made in heaven. A while back there was a really nice magazine published (or at least I thought so) called Chocolatier. Are you familiar with it? Sadly it is no longer. As a pastry fan and pastry professional hopeful and then a working pastry professional, it was a magic door into pastry worlds I only dreamed of. I remember one recipe for a cookie I think was called Tiger Striped Cookies. It was a drop peanut butter cookie with chocolate streaks through it. Once it was baked it had a pretty striking appearance and a great flavor. I had the recipe for a long time and then through subsequent moves and whittling down my recipe collection it somehow disappeared. I was thinking about that recipe the other day and thought I'd just try to recreate it to the best of my memory. Here is the result for that cookie- super easy, super tasty. If you are in the chocolate-peanut butter lover's camp I bet you will love it. Let me know, won't you? I used Einkorn flour for my gluten sensitive daughter but the recipe shows the ingredients for both all-purpose or Einkorn flour. For that matter you can also use a 1:1 ratio gluten free baking flour just as easily. Peanut Butter "Tiger Stripe" Cookies- Yield: approx. 3 dozen cookies 2 cups light brown sugar, lightly packed (14 ounces) 1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Jif) 1 cup ( 8 ounces)unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs, room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (OR 10 3/4 ounces Einkorn Flour) 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda* 1 teaspoon baking Powder* 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 3 ounces good-quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. * I am 5,o00 ft above sea level. I reduce baking soda to 1 1/8 teaspoon and baking powder to 3/4 teaspoon, in case you are baking at high altitude, too. 3. Cream together sugar, peanut butter, and butter on low speed of stand mixer until well -combined. 4. Add in eggs and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well incorporated. 6. Reduce mixer to low speed and stir in flour mixture just until combined. Remove bowl from mixer. 7. Drizzle melted chocolate on top of dough in a random fashion 8. By hand, using a rubber spatula, carefully fold the melted chocolate into the dough, leaving distinct areas of peanut butter and chocolate dough. The idea isn't to make this a chocolate dough. It should look marbled, more or less like this: 9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a spring-loaded cookie (ice cream) scoop, dish out balls of dough onto baking sheet, spacing 2 " apart. 10. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 12-13minutes until done. Remove from oven and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough until all the dough is baked off. 11. Well now you have left to do is eat them (though sharing them would be a nice idea, too). ♥
" I doubt whether the world holds for anyone a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice cream." - Heywood C. Broun Does ice cream elicit the same emotional response in you as it does in me? I would almost have to say ice cream is my most favorite dessert, or perhaps a tie with a simple home made chocolate chip cookie (frozen, of course- more on that another day). And of all the flavors out there, mint chocolate chip would have to be my all-time favorite. The minty fresh flavor of it adds to the coolness. The chocolate pieces are a wonderful contrast, as long as they are substantial, and give the taste buds more to explore (no thank you to the striated chocolate for me in some brands). I like ice cream so much that on more than one occasion I have given serious thought to opening up an ice cream shoppe (yes, definitely with two "P"s). Luckily I came to my senses each time! lol! However, it remains one of my favorite things to make and tinker with in spurts. Recently, I had a couple bars of good white chocolate that kept catching my attention every time I opened the cupboard they were stored in. I rarely eat white chocolate out of hand (I am most definitely in the camp of dark chocolate lovers) but there are a few desserts I make with white chocolate that have been long-time favorites,so I like to keep a bit on hand. Finally it occurred to me to make ice cream with them. We were having a run of nice warm weather, spring was in the air, and it seemed like perfect timing to get out my ice cream maker and get to work. So I settled on making White Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Oh, yes! And let me tell you, it came out pretty darn wonderfully. The base for the ice cream I adapted from an old favorite recipe found in Death By Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers. The method is a bit unusual as he calls for whipping the eggs, but it makes a lusciously creamy ice cream. The white chocolate mellows the mint a bit, and I used actual mint chocolate bars for the chips. You could use regular bittersweet chocolate, if you can't find the mint, but then I'd probably amp up the mint in the ice cream base, but we'll talk more about that soon. Obviously you will need an ice cream maker for this recipe. If you don't already have one, I'd recommend a Cuisinart one without reservation. I have this one , but I am sure you would get great results with any Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. They seem to have one for every budget. At one time I had a fancy counter-top model ice cream maker before and ended up selling it at a garage sale. For the money I'd go Cuisinart over and over again. So get your machine out and lets get churning! White Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (makes approx 1 quart-ish) 8 ounces good quality white chocolate (not chips)- will contain only cocoa butter as the fat, chopped 2 cups whole milk plus 3 Tablespoons 2/3 cup granulated sugar small pinch of fine sea salt 2 whole eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons pure Peppermint Extract 6 ounces Lindt Mint Chocolate bar (or bittersweet chocolate) 1. Make ice cream base at least 4 hours ahead or 1 day before : Set up an ice bath with 2 large bowls that can nest together. The bottom bowl will have ice and water in it and the top bowl will hold your custard base shortly. Leave the top bowl off the ice for now. Place it aside. 2. Place the chopped white chocolate and 3 Tablespoons of milk in the top of a double boiler or in a heat-proof bowl that will fit over the top of saucepan. Bring the water to a boil over medium high heat. Place the bowl of white chocolate and milk over the water. 3. Turn off heat and let white chocolate melt completely, about 10 minutes. With a rubber spatula, stir mixture until perfectly smooth; set aside. 4. In a 2.5 -quart saucepan, heat the remaining 2 cups of milk, pinch of salt and 1/3 cup granulated sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil. 5. Meanwhile in the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the 2 eggs with the remaining 2/3 cups sugar until light and thickened, about 3 minutes. If the milk has not come to a boil by then, reduce the speed on the mixer and keep mixing to maintain the volume created. 6. Pour the boiling milk into the beaten eggs, while the mixer is going, to avoid scrambled eggs (also ok to remove bowl from mixer and whisk in the milk by hand. This is called tempering). Return the egg-milk mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking over medium heat, until mixture has thickened, and when you run a finger through the mixture on a spatula it leaves a clean trail. Do not boil the mixture. 7. Immediately strain the mixture through a fine sieve into the bowl you previously set aside. 8. Immediately whisk white chocolate mixture into base and place on top of ice bath to chill (about 15 minutes) stirring occasionally. Stir in peppermint extract. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. 9. Meanwhile, chop mint chocolate and gently melt over double boiler or in microwave, stirring occasionally until completely smooth. 10. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Spread the melted mint chocolate in an even layer on the parchment-lined pan, about 1/16"- 1/8" thick. You want the " chips" you will be making to have some bite to them later, but not too thick as to be a nuisance. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes until chocolate has completely hardened. 11. Remove the pan from the freezer and chop the chocolate into roughly 1/4 " squares. It will crack in places and not be exact. That's ok. Return the chocolate to the freezer until ready to use. 12. After base has sufficiently chilled, remove from refrigerator. At this time taste base for flavor. Not all extracts are the same. You may want your ice cream a little more minty than I want mine. Additionally, once frozen the flavors will be slightly muted. I'd start with 1/8 teaspoon more per time, if you want to increase. Whisk in well and taste again. 13. Place custard into machine and churn per manufacturer's instructions for your machine. When ice cream is almost completely frozen, add in mint chocolate chips, 1/3 at a time. Isn't that looking good?!! 14. When completely churned, remove from ice cream maker and quickly transfer to containers to freeze. I had these cute little pint containers I found on-line. Here's something similar. Tupperware containers would be fine, too.. 15. Let ice cream "ripen" in the freezer for several hours before serving. Then scoop out and enjoy! yum!
"If I call you darling, will you make me pancakes?" -Unknown I should have had this posted sooner, but it's Spring Break around here, and my daughter and I took advantage of the time to go on our first college visit. She is a junior and well, college is just around the corner. I am not sure how she got to be almost ready for college, since yesterday she was just kicking around her first soccer ball, but there you have it! We had a really nice time on a very long road trip. More of that to come! Speaking of my daughter, she has always loved pancakes. We have a local eatery called Snooze. We don't go often, but when we do, she always orders the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes. So I thought I'd surprise her with my version. They turned out really well , and she gave them two thumbs up. The base pancake recipe you will use is my tried and true one for deliciously light, fluffy and wonderfully flavorful "Best Ever" buttermilk pancakes. The link is in the recipe below. You will enjoy these for weekend breakfasts and weeknight dinners, if you are anything like us. Glazed Pineapple-Upside Down Pancakes with Honey-Cinnamon Butter Makes approx 12 1 Recipe Best Ever Pancakes 3/4 cups chopped fresh, ripe pineapple granulated sugar for sprinkling 3/4 cup (6 ounces) softened unsalted butter, divided 3/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 Tablespoon mild honey 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted 2 Tablespoons heavy cream 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1. Make Cinnamon-Honey Butter: Combine 1/2 cup softened butter with honey and cinnamon. Combine well. (can be made several days ahead, place in an airtight container and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using). Set aside. 2. Make Glaze: Melt remaining 4 Tablespoons of butter. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla and cream, to make a drizzling consistency, adding more cream as necessary. Set aside. 3. Preheat your griddle to medium (that's 350 degrees F on my electric griddle). Meanwhile prepare the Best Ever Pancakes according to directions. 4. When griddle is hot, grease with butter or shortening. Drop about 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto hot griddle. Evenly divide the chopped pineapple over the pancakes (approx 1 heaping tablespoon). Sprinkle approx 1/4 teaspoon of granulated sugar over the pineapple side of each pancake. 5. Flip pancakes and continue to cook until done, about 1-2 more minutes, depending on how hot your griddle is. Repeat with remaining batter until it's all used up. You can keep previous batch warm in preheated 200 degree oven until ready to serve, if desired. 6. Serve pancakes topped with a dollop of cinnamon butter and drizzle with glaze. Warm, pure maple syrup on the side is also wonderful. From my kitchen to your's-enjoy!♥
"Sometimes, a Sunday afternoon needs a whole mango to be kept entirely to oneself, and eaten in one sitting." -Alison Pil Mango is really that good. Sometimes you just don't want to share it. And totally off topic, but I'm not the only one who loved The Newsroom and Alison Pil as Maggie in it, right? (I confess to binge-watching all three seasons on Amazon in about 4 days. I know...) Back to mango...in the off chance you are feeling a little more generous and maybe sharing the mango is an option, can I talk you into making Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Mango-Pineapple salsa? It is super easy to make, a great option for a quick, light week-night meal or a casual weekend meal with friends. Minimal prep, maximum flavor. If I were you, I'd double or triple the seasoning rub as it's great on chicken and works on pork, too. It's not quite grilling season here in Northern Colorado, but my indoor grill fit the bill just fine today. This recipe comes from my days as a business owner with my meal prep business, the long gone Meals Made Easy. It was my first time tasting mango salsa and I was smitten immediately. I've added a little fresh pineapple to the salsa, and it's a winner. Easy, colorful and fresh, what could be better?! Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango-Pineapple Salsa- serves 6 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more for the salsa olive oil 1 large mango, peeled and diced 2/3 cup diced fresh pineapple 2 Tablespoons minced red onion 2 Tablespoon minced fresh cilantro 1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced juice from 1/2 fresh lime 6 mahi mahi pieces approx 5 ounces each 1. Preheat your grill to medium high. 2. Combine cumin, chili powder, coriander, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl; set aside. 3. Place mango., pineapple, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and a pinch of salt together in a medium bowl. Stir to mix well. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. 4. Pat fish dry. Drizzle each piece with a little olive oil and sprinkle evenly with spice mixture. Place spice side down on grilling surface and cook about 4-7 minutes a side, depending on thickness of fish and heat of your grill. Before flipping, drizzle top side with olive oil and sprinkle evenly with spice mixture (any leftover spice mix can be kept in an air-tight container in your cupboard for 2 months). 5. Continue cooking, until fish is just done, approximately another 4-7 minutes. DO NOT over-cook. Mahi gets an unpleasant texture when over-cooked. You won't like it. Remove from grill immediately. 6. Top with salsa and serve. Doesn't that look so delicious? That salsa alone....swoon! Oh, and did I mention it's even good for you? Healthy, quick, easy AND tasty?!! Winner!
“There is no right or wrong when it comes to making art. Making sure that you have fun is the most important part. Splash a little paint, draw a little line. Just make sure that you have fun each and every time.” -Mickey Mouse What luck finding that quote today! I think it sums up how I feel about art more and more. I am a newbie at this art thing, a life-long creative person, but artist? I don't think so. My tag line is that I doubt that I'll ever be a "fine" artist, but I always hope to be a "fun" artist! How about you? For the last 2 years plus, since I have been practicing it more and more, art has been the creative outlet I have needed. It has brought messages to me that I want or needed to hear. It has been colorful, fraught with mistakes, full of super wonderful surprises and most of all fun! I once heard that the best way to learn something is to teach someone else. So that's why you have me, a very under-qualified teacher, attempting to teach you an art lesson! Ha! So here we go , students together! About a year ago I took a beginner watercolor workshop with a local Artist (that would be capital A artist!) Deb Groesser. She was fun and delightful in every way. I already knew her a bit as I had worked with her partner at a previous job. She is one of the nicest people anywhere, and her watercolor art is very impressive and beautiful, to say the least. She loves watercolor and she wanted us, her students, to love watercolor. The one sure way to get us to love it was for us to have success with it (such a tricky one she is!). So she taught us a technique whereby we took an outline of a subject, in this case a rooster, we flooded the image with water and proceeded to splash color on it fairly willy nilly. And voila...we made art! Pretty cool, don't you think? I know I thought so! I can hear you now, "but I can't draw anything like that." I know-me neither! So another trick of the trade she taught us is to draw, if you can, or cheat and trace the image using graphite paper. Who knew? This stuff is a game changer! I bought some at a local art supply store, but it is available on line, too. So I totally traced my image and then did the watercolor part. Another trick for this technique is to use cold press watercolor paper. This particular rooster was done on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, but any cold press paper of that weight should work for this technique. The cold press paper has rougher texture to it and allows the paint to be absorbed into the fibers more so than hot press (hot press is very smooth and the water and paint tend to lie on top more. I LOVE hot press paper, but not so much here). Lastly, in order to have the best result with this technique, you want to use colors that "play well together" (i.e. don't make mud). In the rooster example above, Deb had us use the primary colors, blue, red and yellow. Of course those three colors make all the other colors in the color wheel. If you don't want to play with primary colors, then use colors in the same family, or those that are next to each other on the color wheel. I remember using Winsor Newton artist paints in her class, but not the specific color names. And just look at the vibrant results achieved! The texture you see in some areas was achieved by sprinkling salt on the wet paint and waiting...and waiting...and waiting for it to dry. I'll show you more in a bit. Please know you don't need any fancy artist watercolors to have success with this technique, but you may find you don't get the same color vibrancy as you would with artist colors if you use student grade or craft watercolors. But for practice? Who cares (another piece of wisdom-never let your lack of supplies, keep you from making art)! In the time since taking Deb's class, I didn't play much with this technique. Right after the class I made this piece, a little bunny. Pretty cute, huh? I actually like it quite a lot (and drew it free hand, too!). But you can see I also made a little mud. Orange and purple for example , are opposites on the color wheel, and don't play all that nice together. However, I don't think it looks all that bad here. And it's just a small piece of inexpensive watercolor paper. A do over would be easy. Then just recently I saw an amazing version of this technique on YouTube by an artist who goes by the name of Coco Bee Art. I encourage you to watch it. It is pure happy. Anyhow that video inspired me to try this technique again. This was the result. I am so super loving this one! I did cheat and used graphite paper to get the image of the whale on my watercolor paper. No shame! Then this watercolor whale inspired me to try another version and seeing if I could make a tutorial from it. And boy did I choose well because unlike the whale which I love so completely, in the tutorial here I had several "oops" moments, so you will get to learn from my mistakes. Hooray! Shall we get started? For this tutorial we will be making a dolphin that will turn out to look like this, maybe (or even better?)!! Step 1: Draw or trace your image (you can search Google for one you like , if you don't have one) onto cold press watercolor paper, any size you like. The image is faint because you don't want the pencil or graphite lines to show through the finished work. So use a light hand! Tip: Pencil under watercolor does not erase. Pencil over watercolor will erase. Step 2: Prepare your paint colors. Make enough washes of each color to complete your project. You will need to work fast once you get going.I chose purple, pink and red for this project. Make the washes as vibrant or as pale as you like (you can always add pigment but can't really take it away so easily with this technique), remembering that watercolor always dries lighter. Step 3: Once you have your washes ready, take your brush and wet the area you want the paint to flow in. Notice I left one of the fins and the eye area dry so I could go back in later to finish them. I did not make my dolphin as wet as I was shown to do in the rooster, and that is a choice you can make for yourself. Step 4: Ok ready? Now drop your paint using a round brush you feel comfortable with for the size of the piece you are working on (you may want a brush for each color to make things go faster). You need to act quickly as you don't want the water to dry before you have been able to get color everywhere. I couldn't show you a step by step but you can see where the different colors are and how they start blending together for fun effects. I also used this time to splash the colors over the painting, using the same round brushes loaded with paint, as I had done with my whale. It adds playfullness, or at least I think so. This is also the time to add more color (more pigment) if you think you maybe need/want to intensify it. Step 5: Take salt (I used kosher salt here, but tables salt is fine) and sprinkle it sparingly over your image while it is still wet (I didn't add it to my splatters). I also messed up and got to much on some areas ( see the dorsal fin). Oh, well.... Step 6: Let it dry. Walk away, go for a walk, do laundry, have a snack, check your Facebook page... do anything except touch your art . Let. It. Dry. Completely. Yes, completely. Step 7: Sure it's dry? Ok, well then just take your hand and wipe away the salt! Step 8: Then add the detail to the eye, remaining fin and mouth (see how I messed that up? Don't do like I did. That was a result of not seeing my pencil line AND not consulting my image for how the mouth actually went. Oy!). For the eye you can use paint or pens. I used both. For the pen I used a Micron 01 and a Sharpie white paint pen. For the watercolor I used Payne's Grey (such a useful color). Step 9: You can stop here if you want to. You have a wonderful piece of art! Pretty cool, huh?!! And if you don't, which I doubt, just try again, promise? We're learning together! OR you can go one more step and add some pen work. Again I used the micron 01 and The white Sharpie paint pen. It's all random and sketchy and just gives a little definition and high-lighting here and there. This is not my area of expertise (baking is), but I try! Don't be afraid to try. See, wasn't that fun? This technique has endless applications- geometric shapes, animals, flowers...the list goes on and on. Why not just try your hand at a few? I know I will be using this technique more often. You know why? I don't feel I have the skill, nor maybe even the patience, to make a realistic representation of very many things. This (along with tracing) allows me to paint things I never imagined painting before and getting super fun results. Look, I mean, it's a dolphin...and I painted it (insert happy dance here)! Make art. Have fun! Share your results (go ahead and post a pic of what you create using this technique on my Facebook page here )! ♥
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