2009 February

Hot Lemon Shrub

February 27, 2009 by Rebecca 8 Comments

Several years ago I got into the Aubrey/Maturin series of books by Patrick O’Brian. And by ‘got into’ I mean that I obsessively read all twenty one books (including the unfinished one) back to back so quickly that I can’t remember what happened in which novel. There was hardly a moment when one of O’Brian’s books left my hands for longer than it took to whip up a meal or change a diaper. The books, aside from being some of the best, if not THE best, historical novels ever written provide a wonderful chronicle of foods prepared in the Napoleonic Era by both lubbers and sailors. Among others, Spotted Dog (or Spotted Dick), Boiled Baby (NOT really a baby, so don’t freak out!), Skillygally, Jam Roly-Poly, Solomongundy and Lobscouse were all prepared and enjoyed (?!?) by cooks of the time. Jack Aubrey, a ship’s captain, and Stephen Maturin, his friend and ship’s surgeon -both central characters in the books- share a love of music and food. Which brings me to another (and related) obsession.

My sweet friend of too many years for us to decently admit, Alison (the mother of Leif’s future wife), got me the book “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels” by the mother and daughter team of Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas. I have now read this book cover to cover twice. The first time was for the sheer enjoyment of the book. The Grossman ladies were brilliant, humorous and thorough. They tested and compiled a culinary companion to the 5,000 references to food and eighteenth century medicine that appeared in the books.

The second time I read the book was more academic. I loved O’Brian’s books so much that I had to try some of the recipes. I opted against making several of the recipes for obvious reasons; anything that took more than eight hours of boiling or stirring was eliminated immediately. Also, some that sounded, er, less than appetizing. “Millers in Brown Onion Sauce” (Millers=rats, just so you know…) and Haggis, for example. Regarding Haggis, the ladies Grossman were kind enough to point out their theory that, “Those who enjoy eating it have never had a hand in its preparation; those who have cooked it are unwilling if not unable to consume it.” And the thought of placing a large vessel under the opening of the lungs to catch the ‘horrid impurities that will drip forth’ was more than enough to convince me they were right.

On the other hand, there were quite a few recipes that looked more than good enough to eat. Among the many were toasted cheese, Ratafia biscuits, trifle and several old fashioned drinks or toddies, including Hot Lemon Shrub.

Being a sucker for anything lemon, I glommed onto that last one as being a safe bet for my first foray of culinary adventuring into the eighteenth century. Besides, I had book-related memories for that particular receipt. Killick -the poor put-upon bristly son of a gun- was simultaneously brow-beating Jack into resting per Stephen’s orders and trying to get out of doing anything when he was asked for a Hot Lemon Shrub. Said Killick, “I got to hang the wipes out first, ain’t I?” I’d give my eye teeth to have a Killick around here, with his cussing, surly attitude and all. Maybe not so great an example for my children? But my house would be spotless. And that’s more than I can say for it now…

Plan ahead on the Lemon Shrub. You should allow it to mellow for about one week before imbibing. Unless, of course, you’re caught in a gale on the high seas and it’s the middle of the curtailed dog watch. Or you just can’t wait. Your call.

For a printer-friendly, photo free version of the recipe, click here.

Hot Lemon Shrub

as appears in “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels”

Ingredients:

Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups rum

Combine all ingredients, stir well, bottle and set aside in a cool place. It will be ready to drink after about a week.

Not entirely appetizing to look at, to be sure, but quite delicious.

To serve, mix 2-3 parts boiling water to 1 part Shrub.

Hot Lemon Shrub. So they DID have tastebuds in the 18th century after all... This is good!

My Notes:

This was good. It was not your everyday, modern hot toddy. It managed to be both lemony and soothing and was just ever-so-slightly sweet. I imagine a hot glass of this would be a powerfully comforting thing to drink whether you had a cold or were coming in from the rain or snow. And tell me if I’m nuts here (book lovers only on this one), but isn’t it fun to get the full-body experience on a book? By that I mean eating/drinking what they ate/drank, listening to the music they enjoyed, standing on the bow of a wooden ship in the middle of an ocean while the swells are twice as high as your mizzen mast? Well, maybe skip the last one. I’ll content myself with a glass of hot shrub on a bitter, rainy night and reading along with Jack and Stephen’s adventures.

Welcome in the cold! Grab a book, a blanket and a Hot Lemon Shrub.

Welcome in from the cold! Grab a book, a blanket and a Hot Lemon Shrub.

Oh! And lest I forget, I’ve heard tell that shrub, once prepared, is quite versatile. The word is that it tastes equally good when mixed in the same 1 part to 2-3 parts proportion with cold seltzer water. I can believe that would be very refreshing on a hot summer’s eve.

So, would you say overwhelming heat or biting cold was the lesser of two weevils?

*There’s no reason a tea-totaller can’t have the Hot Lemon Shrub experience, too! Just replace the rum with an equal amount of water and 2 teaspoons of rum extract in the recipe. Proceed as directed!

Filed Under: Beverages, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: Anglophilia, Aubrey, Historic foods, Maturin, O'Brian

Eggs in A Basket: Baked Eggs in Toast Cups with Melty Cheese

February 26, 2009 by Rebecca 15 Comments

Update: This recipe was submitted as an entry in the NYC Eggland’s Best Recipe contest…

Yesterday, Bacon Toffee. Today? Eggs in a Basket. Bacon and eggs. See? I’m practical…

And this dish? It hits all the right buttons. It is flavorful, cheap, easy to prepare, simple to customize, cheap, and kid friendly. And did I mention it’s easy on the wallet? Seriously. Can you think of a less expensive complete protein than eggs? We’re talking about bread, eggs, and cheese in the dish’s simplest form. It is a classic combination that doesn’t need much tinkering. You can, of course, add anything else you want to the mix; crispy bacon, diced ham, a spoonful of lentil soup or beef stew, sauteed or caramelized onions… Let your tastebuds be your guide. And you can vary the overall flavor by playing with the type of bread you use; rye, whole wheat, white sandwich, cinnamon raisin… The sky is the limit.

I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize just how easy this dish is to customize for various members of the household. Around here we have three who like their yolks runny and four who like the yolks firm. Since I cook these in ramekins, I put the runny-yolk lovers’ ramekins in the oven several minutes after I start baking the ones intended for the firm-yolk camp. No ramekins? No problem. Use a muffin tin. When the runny-yolk E-I-Bs are done, pull out the muffin tin and carefully remove the requisite number of toast cups. Return the tin to the oven and finish cooking the other eggs to the desired doneness.

Tangent Alert: This is a great recipe to get your kids cooking in the kitchen. I prepared this with the group of nine to twelve year old kids to whom I teach cooking. Combined with Purple Cows and Ranch Topped Iceberg Wedges, it created a meal these kids could prepare almost entirely by themselves for their families.

This is the go-to dish on super busy activity laden nights. No one gets tired of it and with the aforementioned salad and smoothies you’ve made a complete and nutritionally well-rounded meal. How about that? You saved your family money while preparing a delicious, well-rounded, meal that was quick to prepare. Buy yourself a dark chocolate bar. You deserve it.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here…

Eggs in a Basket

Scale this recipe up as needed. Around these parts, that means I prepare nearly 20 eggs per meal. My chickens work hard.

Prep and Cooking Time: Between 15-25 minutes

Ingredients per person:

And missing from this picture? Eggs. Kind of crucial...

2 eggs
2 slices fresh bread (We used homemade whole wheat sourdough. Mmmmm… Sourdough…)
butter
shredded cheese (You can use Cheddar, Swiss, Munster, Smoked Gouda, etc… Whatever flicks your Bic.)
Chopped ham or crispy bacon, optional
thinly sliced green onions, optional

Preheat oven to 375F.

Butter each slice of bread.

I didn't actually use the whole stick of butter. But I thought about it...

Squeeze into the ramekin or muffin tin, buttered side down. Press bread against sides of dish to push crust above the rim and make enough room for the egg.

Look at the freaky duck hands squeeze bread into ramekins. Quack, quack!

Watch the freaky duck hands squeeze bread into ramekins. Quack, quack!

Because the bread doesn’t always go where you want it to without tearing, you may find yourself with some pretty big holes.

Mind the gap. Patch that hole...

Don’t sweat it. Just patch it with a buttered piece torn from another piece of bread.

... with a small piece of buttered bread...

That's better!

Sprinkle about 1 Tablespoon of shredded cheese into each bread lined dish.

Be generous with the cheese!

Top with 1-2 Tablespoons chopped ham or bacon, if using.

Break one egg into each ramekin and grind fresh pepper over the eggs.

...And don't skimp on the black pepper! You will regret it!

Almost there...

Sprinkle evenly with about 1 additional Tablespoon shredded cheese and any other desired seasonings.

Doesn't looking at cheese make you wicked hungry? It makes me hungry, anyway.

Doesn't looking at cheese make you insanely hungry? I could gnaw someone's leg off just looking at this.

Bake 15 to 25 minutes, till cheese is browned and eggs are cooked to desired consistency.

So cute. Melted cheese, toasty bread, perfectly cooked yolk...

If you prefer runny yolks, pull the eggs from the oven closer to 15 minutes.

Come to Mama!

If you prefer medium yolks remove at about 20 minutes.

This one is for Liam. "Straight up with green onions, please, Mom."

If you like yolks that are firm all the way through, cook closer to the 25 minute mark.

...And this one is NOT for Leif. Note the 'green stuff'.

Remove toast cups from the dishes and serve. (These can also be served in the ramekins if they were cooked in them, but can pose a burning hazard for small hands. Use your discretion.)

This was temporarily abandoned by Ty so he could investigate why the dogs were barking outside. I might have eaten it. If that makes me a bad Mom so be it. I cannot resist the hot sauce.

This was temporarily abandoned by Ty (note the firm yolk) so he could investigate why the dogs were barking outside. I might have eaten it. If that makes me a bad Mom so be it. I cannot resist the hot sauce.

Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.

Filed Under: Eggs, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetarian

Bacon Toffee

February 25, 2009 by Rebecca 21 Comments

Did you see the Maple Bacon Cake over on Thursday Night Smackdown? Michelle, the proprietress of TNS, is a true lover of the bacon and made ample use of bacon toffee on her cake. I’ve been meaning to make a sweet bacon dish for about a year. A few months ago sweet bacon recipes started popping up all over the place. I drooled over the bacon ice creams and cried massive croccodile tears over the thought of munching on a pound of candied bacon. The only reason I didn’t make any of this stuff is because I made an error of epic proportions. I talked about the idea with The Evil Genius first.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s brilliant, but if there’s one place in his superhuman-smartitude that The Evil Genius has a blindspot it is the application of beloved foods in new and wonderful ways. By way of proof, I offer you the examples of him finally switching from Goya coffee (to which he swore fealty for many years) to Cafe Altura’s French Roast. I also offer this bacon-laden example.

Several months ago I pointed excitedly to a picture of bacon ice cream on Tastespotting and said, “Hey! Doesn’t that sound amazing? I might make that this weekend.” He pulled a face that can only be described as ‘blond puppy dog” and begged out of me a promise that I wouldn’t ‘go and ruin a perfect batch of vanilla ice cream that way.’ What can I say? When he looks at me with those gorgeous, evil blue eyes I melt like so much ice cream. I promised. And immediately regretted it as the bacon wave swept the blogosphere.

And then a couple days ago I saw Michelle’s Maple Bacon Cake. And I had enough. I had a pound of bacon, a pound of butter, sugar, and everything else that was necessary. I went to work. As my Grandfather was wont to say, “It’s easier to do and get forgiveness than to get permission first…” Besides, I knew the man would love the stuff. I mean, really, how can you go wrong with bacon?

I whipped up the batch, poured it onto my silpat and let it firm up. I broke little pieces off the edges as they firmed. Ohmygoodness. It was so much better than I had even imagined. And even though I used a whole pound of bacon in the toffee, the first thing you got when you bit into the toffee was not bacon. It went sweet, salty, smoky, bacon. It embodied ‘umami‘.

I am toffee. I am bacon. I am umami.

When Monsieur Le Evil Genius came home he used his spidey-sweets sense to find the tray in the kitchen and had stuck a piece in his mouth and commenced chewing before asking me what it was with a very blissful look on his face. “BACON TOFFEE!” I yelled triumphantly. With many verbal exclamation points. He stopped chewing, used his brilliant brain to calculate whether this was an appropriate time to express humility and said, “Wow. You were right. This is great!” Then he ate a half of a pound of it. I win. But I’m not rubbing it in much. Only when he eats it. Which is frequently. So I guess I am rubbing it in much.

Bacon Toffee

As made with the English Toffee recipe from Thursday Night Smackdown

1 pound of bacon, sliced into very thin strips, fried until very crispy and drained on paper towels
1 pound unsalted butter
2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line a rimmed half-sheet pan with a silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.

Put all the ingredients except the bacon into a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Go with a larger pot than you think you’ll need because the toffee has a tendency to boil up the sides. You really don’t want that to happen. Have you ever had hot toffee on your skin or tried to clean it off the stove? Don’t go there.

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook until the mixture hits 300F on a candy thermometer. This goes fast once you hit about 200F, so don’t walk away from the pan. You will regret it if you do. Trust me and the big, sooty, burned sugar mess I had to clean up once.

Once the toffee mixture hits 300F, stir the crispy bacon in and pour immediately into the prepared pan. Use a silicone or offset spatula to gently spread the toffee into an even layer. And do not, no matter how BADLY you want to, lick that spatula if you want to keep your tongue. Again, I ask you to trust me here!

Allow to rest at room temperature until the toffee has cooled and firmed completely. When completely cool, break into pieces with your hands. Store, refrigerated, in a zipper top bag in the back of the fridge to discourage people from snitching it when they think you’re not looking.

What to do with this bounty of bacon toffee? Well, I’m going to make some bacon toffee chocolate chip cookies, and some bacon toffee vanilla ice cream, and I’m going to eat a lot of it all by itself. Just because I can.

Keeps in the fridge for weeks.

Ain't it pretty folks?

Filed Under: candy, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, Valerie Tagged With: bacon candy, unusual uses for bacon

Chocolate Chip Drop Scones (A.K.A. Breakfast Cookies)

February 23, 2009 by Rebecca 5 Comments

I am about to let you in on a secret. I routinely lie to my fourth born child. But I confine it to food and hope that since it’s with the end design of nourishing him that eventually I’ll be forgiven. He has such strict (and arbitrary) rules about what he will and won’t eat. He won’t touch ‘green stuff’, all vegetables with the exception of raw carrots, parsley*, cornbread or biscuits.

*I am aware that parsley falls in the ‘green stuff’ category, but I’ve tried steadfastly to pass it off as an herb -which I think we’d all agree it actually is- because herbs are acceptable to Leif. See? I told you it was arbitrary. Rosemary=good. Parlsey=gag. Can someone explain this?

Why biscuits? Dunno. Leif can’t even explain it. This is the same child who inhales cookies, bread, breadsticks, brownies, blondies and soft pretzels. So clearly the situation called for subterfuge. Scones have been a favorite around here for a long while and I shamelessly stole the idea for chocolate chip drop scones from my friend Beth. What Leif doesn’t and won’t know is that these scones are actually buttermilk biscuits all gussied up. Ha HA! And take that!

These are the most fabulous breakfast treats. They throw together so easily in the morning. Easily enough that I can whip them up even before I’ve consumed my first two cups of tea. Believe me when I tell you that is an accomplishment.

I make this with plain old vegetable oil. I know that isn’t traditional and I know that butter lends more flavor but sometimes you bow to the budget and you’re not worse enough for the wear to change to the more expensive ingredient. This is one of those moments. Feel free to substitute an equal amount of melted, unsalted butter. I’m using the oil because it’s wicked cheaper and just that much easier in the morning. Just keeping it real, folks…

Before baking I topped the scones with a generous sprinkle of demerara sugar. This gave them a lovely sweet crunchy top and, according to the boys, made them look ‘cyber-y’. I’m not sure what that means, but judging from the looks on their faces, it was a deeply moving compliment. I accepted the compliment with the appropriate mix of humility and happiness. At least I think I did. Because I still don’t know what ‘cyber-y’ scones are.

And why are they ‘also known as Breakfast Cookies’? Because Mr. Picky Pants is also capricious and decided that he didn’t like the sound of the word ‘scones’ this morning. And so they magically transformed into Breakfast Cookies. Which he inhaled. Yeah.

I might add that these make a killah afternoon snack or accompaniment for tea. You could really do much worse!

Chocolate Chip Drop Scones (A.K.A. Breakfast Cookies)

Ingredients:

2 cups white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder (preferably aluminum free)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup soured milk= 1 teaspoon cider vinegar in a measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal one cup, stir well and let sit for 5 minutes prior to using.)
1 cup chocolate chips
coarse raw (demerara) sugar (or granulated sugar) for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 475F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a large measuring cup, mix together the buttermilk and vegetable oil.

Pour the buttermilk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix gently until most dry spots have disappeared. Add the chocolate chips and stir gently to distribute evenly. The batter will still be lumpy, but there should be no pockets of dry ingredients left.

Scoop by the quarter cup (or use a similarly sized disher) about 2-3 inches apart on the prepared pan. Sprinkle the tops generously with sugar and bake for between 14-18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and delicious and they are set up. Allow to rest on the pan for five minutes before the hoard of hungry children descends on them. These are best eaten the day they’re made, but I can think of worse things than eating one of these the day after it was baked.

Are they Breakfast Cookies?

Or are they Chocolate Chip Drop Scones?

Or are they just gussied up buttermilk drop biscuits?

Ty doesn't care what I call it. He just wants to eat it!

Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast Foods, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast cookies, Breakfast Foods, drop biscuits, quick breakfast, scones

So do I believe him or don’t I?

February 20, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

"Leif. Did you eat some of the blueberries from the bowl?"

"Uhhhhhh, no!" quoth he.

So my question is this. Do I believe him or don't I?

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mystical Magical Slime. Hours of fun for kids of all ages.

February 16, 2009 by Rebecca 7 Comments

Please allow a departure from the normal for a moment. It isn’t that I’m lacking a recipe to share with you. It’s just that the recipe isn’t one to eat. The blog is titled, “Foodie With Family”, right? Well, today’s post is for the kids (and the kids at heart.) Those of you who have school aged kids might be looking at a couple days or a week’s worth of break from school. And since you’re with me on the departure from the norm, how about sticking with me for an aside from the departure. When did this happen? I don’t remember getting a week off for Presidents’ Day. And since I sound like an old codger already, I might as well drive the nail into the coffin by saying that in my day it wasn’t even called Presidents’ Day. We had an individual birthday celebration for Washington and Lincoln and I’m pretty sure we got those corresponding days off. See that? I’m even too old and too codgery to remember whether I got those days off. It’s all downhill from here.

But back to the point. What was that dratted point? Oh yes. It was that many of you may find yourself with a kid (or a bunch of them) who need some activities to keep those brains and hands from plotting nefarious time-off deeds involving dogs, dutch ovens filled with gravel and mud of questionable origins, your good whisk and indelible marker in the newly repainted den. Trust me when I say it behooves you to spend the small amount of time to keep them occupied or you may find yourself with a ‘magic eraser’ trying desperately to remove Sharpie and muddy paw prints from the recently-but-no-longer bright white closet door in the aforementioned den while wondering just how they got your whisk to stand up straight in a pile of mud that looks remarkably like it came from the floor of the chicken coop. Just saying…

What to do, what to do? You don’t want to run to the store with those honyaks. Dig into the laundry supplies for some borax and the craft bin for some glue and make yourself some Mystical Magical Slime. It has the tactile play that kids love so much but it cleans up really nicely. Well, except from nice tablecloths, but who has any of those if they have kids? I recommend using a not-well-loved vinyl or plastic tablecloth for playing with the gunk. When it comes time to clean up, let it dry on surfaces where it’s not going to do harm and then sweep it up. Whip up a batch of this and do what you have to do. This will keep them occupied. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself playing alongside them. It’s Mystical and Magical like that…

Hey you folks who aren’t overrun by children! You’re not off the hook here. This stuff is just plain fun and it’s not like it requires a massive investment. Try making this. I’m willing to bet you’ll find it a stress reliever even if you do feel a little silly when you start making the stuff. Live a little. Reconnect with your inner child.

And you fellow homeschooling types out there? You can turn this into a science lesson. Check out this link for more information on the mystical magical properties of polymers…

Mystical Magical Slime

Ingredients:

4 ounces white school glue (Elmer’s, Ross, doesn’t matter, just use white school glue.)
1 teaspoon powdered borax
1/2 cup warm water
food coloring, optional (We used beet powder for our gruesome slime, but standard food coloring would work fine!)

Helpful equipment:

8 ounce measuring cup
stain-proof mixing bowl
vinyl or plastic tablecloth
mixing spoon that you don’t love enough to worry about
zipper top bag

To make Mystical Magical Slime you begin by changing into clothes to which you and the children are not emotionally attached. Now add the entire contents of the glue to a mixing bowl. Add warm water to the glue bottle, screw the lid back on tightly and shake. Empty the water/glue mixture to the glue in the bowl and mix well with a spoon. If you’d like to make colored slime, just add a couple drops of food coloring here. Again, mix well.

Add 1/2 cup warm water to your measuring cup and stir in 1 teaspoon of borax powder. Stir with a fork, but don’t worry if some of the powder doesn’t dissolve. It’s not a biggie. You have now created the Mystical Magical Slime Activator. Or you can call it Mystical Magical Potion, or Mystical Magical Power Liquid or whatever you want that makes your kids’ eyes get bigger and makes them stare at you in anticipation. Your call. “Mystical, Magical Slime Activator Potion” is what gets them all quivery with excitement over here.

Now, while stirring the glue and water mixture, slowly add about 2 Tablespoons of the “Mystical, Magical Slime Activator Potion”. You’ll immediately feel resistence against the spoon while the strands of slime form in the bowl. You may want to use your hand for the remaining mixing! If the slime is to your liking, you can stop here, but if you want slime that is a little more like silly putty, you can keep adding the activator little by little, mixing well between each addition until it reaches the desired consistency. Now PLAY! Have fun! Get messy!

When you’re done, store the Mystical Magical Slime in a mystical magical zipper top bag.

We had a house full of family on New Year’s Day. My sister, Jessamine, and her husband, Jeremy, wisely brought the ingredients for this project as a gift for Ty’s birthday knowing that he had never made it before. Coincidentally, friends of ours had created and given Ty a kit to make this as well. As you can see from the pictures below, the whole crew -ages 3 through 42 and everywhere in between loved it.

The evil mastermind for the Mystical Magical Slime was my brother-in-law, Jeremy. He teaches kindergarten. Live in fear for the next generation, people. Just kidding. Don't fear the Jeremy.

Aidan was thrilled that the slime resembled the deer guts he saw when his Uncle Greg field dressed a deer in the backyard. Ew.

I guess it does kind of look like deer innards with that beet coloring. Double ick.

Airlia is really grossed out by the slime. Either that or my morning breath.

Since she'll hate me for putting in that previous picture I'd better throw in one that shows how she normally looks. Isn't she gorgeous?

Shake hands and forgive me, Air? Sisters don't shake hands. Jess will smooch you for me.

Wahoo! Slime hands.

Niece Willow isn't sure what to make of my crazy boys.

Maybe because Ty keeps waving his 'slime brain' at her and saying, "Do you like my BRAIN?"

My nephew Ezra was REALLY into it.

That's right. Some grown-ups, who shall remain unnamed, were pushing kids out of the way to play with the slime.

Using grown-up arms to steal the children's slime. Shame on you, Evil Genius. Shame on your naughty polymer-loving eyes.

Jess and Leif are demonstrating their maniacal laughs for us. Very effective.

Liam is entering the mystical magical age where he prefers to scowl at the camera. Actually, maybe he's just annoyed because I keep telling him to look at Mommy.

Now that's one happy birthday boy. I want to bite his cheeks in this picture.

Filed Under: Non-food recipes, Rebecca Tagged With: activities for kids, crafts, family fun

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

February 10, 2009 by Rebecca 6 Comments

Were you paying attention when I suggested having some of extra tart shells on hand in the Individual Grapefruit Tart post this week? This is why I said that…

Rich, decadent, pure, unapologetic chocolate ganache. These are too good to believe.

With five minutes of hands-on time I turned out these phenomenal Chocolate Truffle Tarts. To make these you simply fill fully baked tart shells with a luscious and smooth ganache. (Like the one we made for the Truffle Brownie Bites.) They’re incredibly rich and incredibly addictive. But they’re also incredibly not low in fat and calories. I may as well have just strapped the two that I ate right to my thighs. I’m not sorry, though. It is a wonderful way to go. This is reason enough to keep tart shells in the freezer, no?

These beautiful little babies are so easy to make that it seems a little pretentious to call this a recipe… But they’re too good not to pass along. So I’ll give you my ‘recipe’ anyway!

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

Ingredients:

9 fully baked four-inch tart shells (see this perfect and simple recipe!) or 1 fully-baked nine-inch tart shell.
12 ounces dark chocolate, preferably more than 50% cacao (I used 60% cacao chocolate pieces)
10 ounces heavy cream
Whipped cream, optional
Cacao nibs, optional
cocoa powder, optional

Place dark chocolate in a medium-sized, heatproof bowl. Heat cream to just below boiling and pour over the chocolate. Allow to sit for five minutes, undisturbed, then stir with a whisk in a circular motion until ganache becomes shiny and smooth. Pour directly from bowl into empty tart shells, or transfer ganache into a large measuring cup with spout for easier filling.

Allow tarts to firm up at room temperature for an hour and a half prior to serving.

That's it. The work is done. Now you just have to not eat these until they are set up. And that's harder than it sounds...

See? Harder than it sounds. Certainly much too hard for a 3 year old with a wicked chocolate tooth to resist...

I served them topped with unsweetened whipped cream, a dusting of cocoa powder and some cacao nibs. You can eat them as we did , or leave them plain in their chocolatey glory, or try them with something crazy like salted peanuts, or a drizzle of raspberry coulis! Keep in mind, though, that this is basically a chocolate truffle in a pie crust. You don’t have to work too hard to glam it up!

*An important note regarding storage. If you think you might not eat through all of these in one sitting just decorate the ones you WILL eat. Left unadorned, these can sit at cool room temperature tightly wrapped for up to a week. If you top them, you’ll need to wrap them and store them in the fridge. Not a disaster, but chocolate has more flavor when it’s not cold. Just a word to the wise!!

I ate so much of this that I swore I wouldn't touch one again. Until I remembered how good it was. Now that I'm looking at the pictures I think that one I was saving is calling "Eat me!" When food talks, I listen.

Filed Under: Desserts, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes

20 Minute Beignets

February 9, 2009 by Rebecca 1 Comment

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a fan of the book ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day’. Using their Master Recipe, I have experimented and made some of our new family favorites; Bread! Fully Loaded and English Muffins, among others. I’m the first to admit that I tend to get stuck in ruts. In fact, I’m fond of my ruts. They’re like old friends. Sometimes I have to drag myself up out of my well-worn and well-loved habits to try a little something new. As I reached for my flour bucket last week I recognized the glassy looks in the kids’ eyes and decided to go a different bread direction. Instead of the usual focaccia or boule I thought I’d try out a little brioche from the aforementioned ‘Artisan Bread in 5′ on the boys. With only five minutes or so investment of time I wasn’t going to be out much effort if the boys didn’t like it. I needn’t have worried. They loved the brioche. And since I had just made a small loaf I had 3-ish pounds of dough left.

Closely following the directions for the dough in the book is a recipe for beignets. And if there’s anything I love more than a rut it’s deep fried anything. Call it kismet, call it coincidence, call it fate, but I had just made French fries the night before and had that pan full of oil sitting in the fridge just waiting for another frying project. Out came the pan and the dough and twenty minutes later my boys were descending on that plate of beignets like I hadn’t fed them in a week. In reality they hadn’t eaten in an hour or so, but you wouldn’t have known it to look at them.

These beignets throw together quickly since the dough is done ahead of time. The majority of the time commitment here involves resting the dough to take the chill off. That makes this the perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast since while the dough rests you can spend more time smooching your sweetheart. Plus, you’ll get major points for what basically boils down to making donuts for breakfast!

Deep Fried Love, Baby...

Brioche Dough Recipe

from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (Buy the book already, folks!) Here’s a link to their site with the dough recipe. Check them out!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight! Really, see this post! My ears were ringing for days) food container.

Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 14 cup capacity food processor fitted witht he dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with the dough hook. The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled; don’t try to work with it before chilling.

Cover (not airtight, oh for the love of all that’s holy NOT airtight!) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses or flattens on top, approximately 2 hours. Refrigerate and chill for at least 2 hours prior to using.

Now that your dough is done, let’s get some frying on!

20 Minute Beignets

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Ingredients:

1 pound of refrigerated pre-mixed Brioche dough
Vegetable oil for deep frying
powdered sugar for dusting finished beignets.

Dust the surface of refrigerated dough with all-purpose flour and cut off a 1-lb piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

Roll the dough into a 1/2″ thick rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 2″ squares (ish). Allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Is it done yet, Mom??? How about now???

Meanwhile, fill a saucepan or deep fryer with at least 3″ of oil. Bring the oil to 360F-370F. Carefully drop the rested dough in the hot oil 2 to 3 at a time to avoid overcrowding. After 2 minutes, flip gently with a slotted spoon and fry for another minute or until golden brown on both sides.

Use the slotted spoon to remove the beignets from the oil and place them on paper towels to drain. Dust generously with powdered sugar and eat while still very warm. You could do worse than serving this with coffee or tea. Oh yes.