A Kitchen Guest!

Welcome to my very first guest post! My mom shares lots of yummy recipes with me and I don't always have the time to try them out so she's here to pick up the slack! Also, I don't have two huge basil plants in my backyard to make yummy drinks. Or, like Mr. Lawyer, she thinks I'm slacking in the food/blogging category and this is a big hint for me to stop eating the chili from the freezer and cook something new.

The Mother Unit and I after a day on the winery/brewery trail

From the Mother Unit:
Happiness is sharing recipes with your daughter, especially after she decreed (as a teen) that she was never going to learn to cook. She just wanted to eat out all the time. Welcome to the real world of bills and budgets. It’s fun that we have developed a mutual interest in recipes involving alcohol. For me, it’s now flavor versus effect.

Here’s a recipe I tried as I had some strawberry flavored vodka. I’ve muddled up a lot of things in my life but never strawberries with simple syrup. My effort was to process the daylights out of the two of them, ending up with a red sludge. With my handy cocktail shaker (thanks for the gift kids) I put the sludge in with the basil and the vodka. So, my effort was murky and sweeter than I would like. I think if it had been straight up vodka that would have cut the sugary taste. The basil added a nice taste to the background. I have two huge basil bushes in the new garden. Time to experiment more with it.

Strawberry Fields

(from the Mother Unit)

Ingredients: 

3 parts strawberry vodka
2 parts strawberry puree (or 3 strawberries muddled with simple syrup)
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 part simple syrup (or agave nectar)
Basil Leaves
Directions:
1. Muddle strawberries and basil (to taste) with lemon juice in a cocktail shaker.
2. Add 1 part simple syrup (or agave nectar) to cocktail shaker.
3. Shake with ice & strain into a chilled martini glass.

Um, did my mother just call me an alcoholic?!

Fancy Salads!

I'm continuing my eat more salad plan. The first week I stuck to pretty traditional/favorite flavors so this week I decided to get all fancy. I normally prefer savory salads but this sweet and tart salad really hit the spot. I looked at several different recipes and pulled my favorite parts from each. I had extra feta to use up, wanted some onions to balance the sweetness and I wanted the pecans for an extra crunch. I'm sure candied pecans would have been fabulous but less healthy.

Strawberry Feta Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
Spinach/baby romaine
Sliced strawberries
Red onion
Pecans
Feta Cheese
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup raspberry wine vinegar
2 tablespoon-1/4 cup sugar, to taste (I stayed on the lighter side)
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Directions:
1. Put together your desired amount of spinach, strawberries, onion, feta and pecans. I generally like more stuff on my salad than Mr. Lawyer.
2. Mix together the oil, vinegar, sugar, mustard and poppy seeds. Dress your salad lightly and enjoy!

The dressing, nice and tart!

Red Rover, Red Rover...

Let Pavlova come over! Our second attempt at a meringue went much better (and for some reason I had that chant stuck in my head the whole time). According to Bon Appétit a Pavlova is a "big meringue topped with lots of stuff" but has a more moist center than a normal meringue (more marshmallowy) and it was named after Anna Pavlova, a russian ballet dancer. It was created in Australia or New Zealand (a point of much contention) when she was on tour.  Regardless of the history it was delicious!
The original recipe called for orange-flower water which I did not have (shocker, I know) but I read online that almond is often a good replacement so whenever the recipe called for orange-flower water we used almond extract. All three taste testers agreed that the almond flavoring complemented the dish much better than orange would have.
Other ramblings: I think this might be better than strawberry shortcake. Blasphemy I know. I'm just not a huge fan of shortcake in strawberry shortcake. I love strawberries and whipped cream but throw in the shortcake and I'm not crazy about it unless it's some topnotch shortcake. And as far as I can tell, coulis is just a fancy word for fruit puree.

Strawberry-Almond Pavlovas

(Bon Appétit) 

Ingredients:
Meringues:
2 large egg whites, room temperature
8 tablespoons sugar, divided
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Strawberry Coulis:
1 12-ounce basket strawberries, hulled, quartered (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Strawberries and Whipped Cream:
1 12-ounce basket fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Meringues:
1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 275°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using cookie cutter or glass as aid, trace six 2 1/2-inch circles on parchment, spacing 2 to 3 inches apart; turn parchment over.
2. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl until soft peaks begin to form. With mixer running, gradually add 6 tablespoons sugar.
3. Whisk 2 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch in small bowl. With mixer running, gradually beat sugar-cornstarch mixture into meringue. Continue beating meringue until stiff glossy peaks form.
4. Beat in vinegar and almond extract. Divide meringue among parchment paper circles, spreading to fill completely (meringues will be about 1 1/2 inches high). Using back of spoon, form slight depression in center of each meringue.
5. Bake meringues until beige and dry to touch, about 20 minutes. Turn off oven and prop door open slightly with wooden spoon. Let meringues cool in oven until completely dry, about 1 hour. Transfer to rack to cool completely.
Strawberry Coulis:
1. Puree all ingredients in blender until smooth. Cover and chill.
Strawberries and Whipped Cream:
1. Mix strawberries, 1 tablespoon sugar, and almond extract in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature until sugar dissolves and juices form, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
2. Using electric mixer, beat chilled cream, vanilla, and remaining 1 teaspoon sugar in another medium bowl until soft peaks form.
Assembly:
Spoon small dollop of whipped cream in center of each plate. Place 1 meringue atop whipped cream on each plate, pressing lightly to anchor meringue. Spoon generous dollop of whipped cream in center of each meringue. Spoon coulis around meringues; top with sliced strawberry mixture

Happy Valentine's Day!

I started my morning by making surprise Almond Valentine Cookies. This recipe is also known as Candy Cane Cookies but I just shaped mine into hearts instead of candy canes. I was also trying out an almond emulsion instead of extract. Emulsions are often used by professional bakers for a more in your face flavor. They are alcohol free so the flavor doesn't bake off when it's heated. The cookies did come out pretty almond-y!

Almond Valentine Cookies

(Joy of Baking)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsaltedbutter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract (or almond emulsion!)
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
Directions:
1. In a bowl, whisk the flour with the salt.
2. In a second bowl beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
3. Remove half of the dough from the mixing bowl. To the remaining half add the red food coloring and beat on low speed until well blended.
4. Take a walnut sized piece of red dough and a walnut sized piece of white dough. Separately, roll each color on a lightly floured surface, into a 4-5 inch long rope. Place the two ropes side by side, gently press together, and twist the two ropes to form a spiral. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Shape each cookie into a cane shape or a heart!
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 8-10 minutes.

Almond cookies are a nice alternative to your overly sweet cookie. However, this dough is a pain in the butt to work with and you must have patience when twisting the shapes as it is prone to cracking. The cookies are also very fragile when baked so stick to smaller shapes, not giant hearts that break when you carry them all the way down to city hall.

I also made some chocolate covered strawberries! I had some leftover bittersweet chocolate from my birthday Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes so I heated it up, dipped in my strawberries and boom! I butchered up some milk chocolate with white chocolate Lindt truffles in order to get some white chocolate to decorate them with. Do you know how hard it is to scoop out the insides of a Lindt truffle? Outrageous. I combined these luscious berries with some Bacon Wrapped Scallops to created a platter 'o love and romance.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

(just winging it)

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Directions:
1. Heat chocolate (I used my ghetto double boiler system consisting of a small frying pan over a pot), once melted dip your strawberries in, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
2. Let them cool a bit while you heat up your white chocolate. Drizzle your white chocolate over your strawberries.
3. Place in the fridge until time to serve.

And because Mr. Lawyer deserves some bonus points he shall be a special kitchen guest! He surprised me with a very yummy dinner of baked salmon (coated with butter, pepper, smoked danish salt and baked at 400 for 15 minutes), my most favorite asparagus (coated in olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic and baked at 350 until done), and some rice pilaf (from a box). Most impressive and yummy! All washed down with some Catawba wine from Torrey Ridge. (Go NY wine!)

Not food but I love my flowers!