Sunday, March 28, 2010

French Macarons Part 2



Chocolate French macarons with an orange butter cream icing.  If you have never had a French Macaron you are missing out!  And no I did not misspell it.  It is spelled with only one O.  They are compeletely different from our macaroons.  And there is no coconut involved!
They are meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, ground almonds, and both granulated and confectionery sugar. Simple ingredients but tricky to make. My first batch of these turned out more like a brownie.  Still yummy but not a Macaron!

And the flavor combinations are crazy too.  You can flavor and color both the macaron and the filling. I love looking at pictures of these.  Click here to go to some images.  My roommate used these macarons to make a dessert for class one day.  Such a classy dessert.

Next to try is blueberry and lemon curd ones! Or maybe make these again but add in some dark chocolate to the meringue to off-set the sweetness.


Last link.....I promise....just for fun check out this miniature box of macarons.  So tiny and realistic looking!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Meatloaf overhaul




Today I changed my meatloaf recipe.  I added bacon and diced tomatoes to the ground meat mixture.  I love the bacon in it.  But who doesn't love bacon right?!  And my spicy tomato jam goes perfect with it.


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Comfort Food




I love cream peas and toast!  I had a rough first day back at class on Monday, seriously who gets up at 6 am!  Crazy people thats who.  After a long day all I wanted for supper was something quick, easy and satisfying.  And creamed peas and toast did it for me. 

Monday, March 22, 2010

Tomato Jam



So....this is my new sauce for my meatloaf.  It is so yummy!  My husband eats it on everything! It took a while to get the recipe figured out but I finally have it. I normally make it with canned tomatoes and an onion marmalade that I make.  So I had to figure out how to make it from scratch with fresh tomatoes.

Tomato Jam

3 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled and rough chopped
2 1/2 cups red onions, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 T brown sugar, lightly packed
1 T oil
1 T butter
1/2 cup port
1/2 cup red wine
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Add the onions and garlic and stir well to cover with butter and oil. Saute until onions are golden.

Sprinkle with the sugar, chilli flakes, spices and some salt and pepper. Give everything another really good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook uncovered for 4-5 minutes.

Pour in the wine, vinegar, water and port and simmer uncovered over a medium-low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and a deep mahogany colour and most of the liquid has evaporated. Cool and pour into jars.

Don't rush cooking this out.  The first picture is just the onions cooking, the second is 30 minutes later. The third on is after 1 hour.  The final picture is after 1 1/2 hours simmering.  It makes a difference to let it cook for the entire time.



Sunday, March 21, 2010

French Macarons


A friend of mine was retiring and I wanted to make her a little treat as a farewell.  I found these cute little boxes at Bulk Barn and bought some pretty ribbon.  Looks pretty enough.......right? 


Well check out whats inside.........these beautiful, tiny French Macarons!  I am SO  in love with these babies!


I will post a recipe and such later.  I just wanted to show you these beauties! 

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Homemade Tortillas



Whole Wheat Tortillas
4 teaspoons oil (I used olive oil)
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup All purpose Whole Wheat flour
1 1/2 cup All purpose Unbleached flour

In a bowl, mix your dry ingredients and oil. Add warm milk and mix well. It should still need more moisture so add a small bit of the warm water at a time, mixing well before adding more. The dough should be sticky but not a stiff batter. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, cover with damp cloth and let rest about 15 minutes.

Divide dough in half then each half in half again. Do this till you have 16 fairly equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball shape and then cover with damp cloth again to let rest another 5 minutes.

While you are waiting on the dough, get a pan out that can hold heat, what I saw suggested was a cast iron pan, which I only have a grill pan made out of cast iron, so I used my non stick pan and kept the heat at medium but made sure it was ready before cooking the tortillas.

When your dough is ready take a dough ball and flatten it with the palms of your hands to start the round shape. On a lightly floured surface, take a rolling pin (I don't have a tortilla press so I went old fashioned :) ) and roll out your dough to your desired thickness. The baking soda in the dough lets it puff up and you will get some bubbles when cooking so if you like yours thin make sure they are THIN or you'll still have puffy ones (another way to do this is use only whole wheat flour as it doesn't rise as much).

Place the tortilla in the hot pan and let cook about 30 seconds (yes I did say seconds) and then flip over and let cook another 30 seconds then set on a plate to the side. Rinse and repeat until all 16 tortillas are done. I suggest that you use that damp cloth to cover your cooked tortillas to keep them from drying out while you're cooking.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Homemade Yogurt


I love to make homemade yogurt.  I bought a maker at Sears.  I used it ALOT!  It makes about 2 large containers worth, for a fraction of the cost.  And......I know exactly what goes into it.

4 3/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of dry nonfat milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt ( I use Astro Balkan style)

Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it reaches 185F.  Basically once it comes to almost a simmer.
Remove from heat and cool until 110F, or until lukewarm.
Whisk in powdered milk and yogurt.

Pour into containers and place in yogurt maker. 



Set timer for 8 hours.......




And TADA homemade yogurt!  Just add bananas and homemade granola.