Orange brownies recipe

It’s so hard to describe this recipe…it has the chewy kind of texture of a brownie, yet has the density of a cake. This is probably one of the strangest recipes that I’ve ever made but it’s quite enjoyable. The orange flavoring is so refreshing on a smoldering summer day. This recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen from the Food Network.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure orange extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 recipe Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
1 each orange, cut in half, sliced into half moons (optional)

For the orange cream cheese frosting:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 Tablespoons softened butter
1 (1-pound) box confectioner’s sugar
2 Tablespoons orange zest
2 Tablespoons orange juice

PROCEDURE:

For the cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

2. Stir together flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a bowl.

3. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest. Using an electric mixer beat until well blended.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Meanwhile make the frosting.

For the frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter and cream cheese together using an electric mixer.

2. Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar until it is all combined and smooth.

3. Beat in the orange zest and juice. Set aside.

To finish the brownies:

1. Remove the brownies from the oven. Allow to cool and pierce the entire cake with a fork.

2. Spread the orange cream cheese frosting over completely cooled brownies. Top with orange slices if desired. Cut into squares.

source:http://www.examiner.com

Featured Recipe: Pasta With Shredded Vegetables and Lavender

Like rosemary, lavender is a powerful and not tremendously versatile herb, and, like rosemary, it takes very readily to grilled lamb. But it really comes into its own when it is combined with vegetables, the herb performing more like thyme than rosemary. This dish is distinctive, different and altogether lovely.

Pasta with Shredded Vegetables and Lavender

Yield 4 to 6 servings

Time 30 minutes

Mark Bittman

Ingredients

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium-to-large zucchini, trimmed
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and trimmed
• 1 red bell pepper, cored
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 or 3 cloves crushed garlic
• Several lavender leaves or flowers, or both (or use rosemary)
• 1 pound cut pasta, like penne or farfalle

Method

• 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Shred vegetables, using a food processor, grater or knife. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add garlic. When it starts to brown, stir and add vegetables. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add a bit of lavender and cook, stirring occasionally, until they barely soften, just 5 minutes or so.
• 2. Meanwhile, cook pasta until it is just barely tender, a little less cooked than it would be to serve it. Drain, reserving some cooking water. Add pasta to vegetables and continue to cook, adding water as necessary to keep mixture moist.
• 3. Taste, and add more lavender to taste; it should be distinctive but not too strong. When pasta and vegetables are tender but not mushy, adjust seasoning for salt and pepper, garnish with a couple of lavender flowers if you have them, and serve.

source:NY

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Toblerone Cookies

Your Recipe.

The new season finally gets under way today as Arsenal travel to Goodison Park to play Everton in an evening kick off at 5.30 and it's live on ESPN. With that late kick off we will have to wait a little longer than most other teams to see our players doing what they're paid a small fortune to do. This summer seemed to drag on for an awful long time but we have reached the end of that long wait finally. Suddenly we will be seeing Arsenal play 5 games in 15 days with Celtic, Portsmouth, Celtic again and Manure all following in quick succession before the next international break.

With us playing Celtic on Tuesday night it means our Premier league game against Bolton had to be postponed until a later date and we will be playing catch up along with Bolton and 4 other clubs. Don't forget to keep that in mind for your Fantasy Football by the way as the second round of games comes 2 days after the first round ends. The new dates for the 3 postponed matches have not been arranged yet and I'll let you know when they are arranged. The away game against Celtic has been picked up by Sky and it will be shown on Sky Sports 2 next Tuesday night with the home tie on ITV1 eight days later.

I'll be heading to the Arsenal supporters club in The Strand in Bray to watch the Everton match today and I'll probably be there for the 2 Celtic games as well. I hope we get a good turn out as I'm looking forward to having a drink or 2 with my fellow Gooners. I put together a bit of a blog for our website and if it works out I'll probably be doing it on a weekly basis. We have a lot of activities planned for the new season and I'm really looking forward to our trips and 5 a side tournaments.

Last season I kept my season preview back until the transfer window had closed in the hope that we signed a couple of top class players and I'm going to do the same thing this season. I will however make a prediction for today's game and despite the fact that we are short of 7 players and Wilshere is not in the squad I still predict a 2-1 win with Arshavin & Eduardo scoring for us. It will be interesting to see what team the boss puts out. Personally I would play the following team in a 4-3-3 formation. Almunia/Sagna, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen/Song, Cesc, Arshavin/Eduardo, Bendtner, RVP but I have a feeling that Denilson will start and Eduardo will be on the bench. I think Eduardo is our best goalscorer and if he can play for his country he can start for us. I can remember him taking Everton apart up there a couple of seasons ago after Bendtner was sent off. Our bench might be looking a little sparse and that's a little worrying for the first game of the season.

The manager had an awful lot to say yesterday as usual on the Friday before a match. He is so accomidating to the media before matches unlike another red nosed manager I can think of. He explained why Wilshere wasn't in the squad and what he said was that he's only 17 and he will get chances this season but not today. I think we could have done with him in the squad at least and he seems as ready as other players who got their chance at that age. He also said what we all knew already that Cesc is going nowhere and that all the speculation was created by the press as they have to print something. He went on to joke that he was quoted a price of £125 million for Messi but the press didn't run with the story.

The boss also spoke about this being the most open Premier league season in a long time with at least 8 teams having a chance. He went on to say that this is the make or break season for the current Arsenal team and his target for the season is to win the league but that at the very worst we must finish in the top 4. When asked about transfers he said there are only 10 players in the world we can't afford and he also seemed to say that he knows who his targets are but he hasn't decided if we should sign anyone yet. That seems a little strange to me and maybe he is waiting to see how we start off our season and how our injury position progresses. What he did say was "If we buy someone we will tell you". The boss also admitted that at times he did see some of those things that he said he didn't on the pitch but he only said so to protect his players after he knew what had happened first. He now thinks that he won't be believed in future when he says he doesn't see something.

I haven't seen the whole squad for tomorrow's game but if we start with the team I want that will leave a bench of Mannone, Gibbs, Silvestre, Denilson, Merida, Eboue & Ramsey as I presume that Vela is unavailable. That means that all our strikers are on the pitch from the start so it probably means that Eduardo will be sacrificed and Denilson will play alongside Cesc with Arshavin playing in the front 3. It means our equivilant of Xavi & Iniesta is Cesc & Denilson rather than Cesc & Arshavin. One of those pairings sounds right to me and the other one will struggle to open Everton up.

That's the lot for today. If you haven't signed up for Fantasy Premier League yet you have until 11.30 this morning GMT to get your team in. You can still join my leagues at any time and the most important thing is to have your team in by 11.30. If you join the leagues after that deadline all your points will still count so I'll give you the codes to the 2 leagues that are still open to new players.

Recipe for chocolate chocolate white cupcakes

Recipe reposted with permission, via Emily Luchetti's blog. Emily is a chef and the author of several cookbooks: A Passion for Ice Cream, A Passion for Desserts and Classic Stars Desserts. To see some of her other recipes on her site, click here.

Chocolate Chocolate White Cupcakes

12 cupcakes

10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Cream the butter and sugar until light.

Add eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the bowl.

Stir in the sour cream.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Add and mix just until combined.

Line cupcake pans with liners and fill.

Bake until skewer clean, about 15 minutes.

Cool to room temperature. Cut a hole in the center of each cupcake. Fill with the chocolate ganache (see recipe below). Frost with chocolate frosting (see recipe below.)



Two Chocolate Ganache

¾ cup cream

3 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ½ ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

In a small saucepot bring the cream to a bowl. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let sit for a couple minutes and then whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until pipeable.

Easy Chocolate Frosting

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

7 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into 1-inch pieces

4 1/2 ounces (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 1-inch pieces.

Heat the cream and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until small bubbles form at the edge. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate pieces and swirl the pan gently to make sure the chocolate is covered by the cream. Let sit a couple of minutes and then stir until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Whisk in the butter a little at time. Let sit at room temperature until spreadable.

I don't have a photo of the ones above, but did find this photo and if you click through, there's another recipe from her!

Tip of the Week: Food Photos on Flickr

A picture is worth a thousand words, but certain snaps on Flickr may also supply you with a few hundred calories as well. In the Recipes to Share group pool at www.flickr.com/groups/recipes, participating photographers post pictures of food and also include the recipes (or links to them) on each photo’s Flickr page. Searching the site for “recipe ingredients” also rounds up plenty of photos and instructions from helpful cooks with cameras.


source:The New York Time

Heirloom potato salad flavored with a touch of dill

This recipe is one of many developed this summer by five Maplewood Richmond Heights high school students. Gabrielle Williams, Relissa Norman, Marissa Robinson, Dynique Moore and Leah Booker spent the summer interning at St. Louis University in the program dubbed HELP — Healthy Eating with Local Produce. The girls learned about food safety, developed recipes, evaluated recipes suggested by other students and visited local farms. Some of their recipes will be added to the school district’s lunch menus.

To learn more about the program and to see two more of their recipes, click here.

Heirloom Baby Potato Salad with Fresh Dill
Yield: 6 servings

2 pounds baby heirloom or fingerling potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt, to taste
White pepper, to taste
1/2 small onion, minced
1 green onion, cut into thin 1-inch strips
3 to 4 sprigs fresh dill, chopped
2 to 3 sprigs parsley, minced
4 eggs, hard-cooked and sliced

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 8 to 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, make the dressing. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper until well blended.
3. Drain the potatoes. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, quarter them or cut into medium pieces. Add the dressing to coat. Add the onion, green onion, dill, parsley and egg, folding gently to distribute the ingredients evenly. Serve the salad warm or at room temperature.

source:RECIPE EXCHANGE

Grilled Mushroom Recipe on Skewers

This is a simple grilled mushroom recipe that goes great with any steak. Be sure to soak the skewers in water overnight to keep them from catching fire. I used portabella mushrooms with this recipe but any good quality mushroom will work. I pretty much filled 3 skewers with this recipe. If you need more just double it. If you are having guests for dinner what a great combination. A grilled steak with a skewer of mushrooms along side of it. Looks great!

　

Ingredients

1. 8 oz whole fresh mushrooms

2. ¼ cup margarine

3. ½ teaspoon dill weed

4. ½ teaspoon garlic salt

　

Directions

1. Thread mushrooms on skewers.

2. Combine the margarine, garlic salt and dill weed.

3. Grill over hot heat for 10 to 15 minutes, bast and turn every 5 minutes.

Enjoy

source:http://cullyskitchen.com

Lunching with Nutella, and a recipe for Nutella Ice Cream

Every year I obsess about the first few weeks of school. Not because I’m worried about my children’s teachers — I’m more concerned about lunchtime.

My kids do purchase the stuff made at school, but there are also times when they’re fortunate to have fabulous food prepared for them by their gourmet cook father. Yes, we do send leftovers and those wonderful Thermos containers that keep food hot are a godsend. But all too soon there will be days when a quickly made sandwich ends up in the bag.

What causes me consternation is not that my kids will get odd looks when they bring a frittata or curry soup that might not appear on a regular school lunch menu; rather it is that the kind of sandwich my children prefer always gets a comment from a new teacher or another child in class who isn’t familiar with our sandwich filler choices.

My kids like Nutella. For those not familiar with it, Nutella looks like a chocolate spread, so to the untrained eye my children are eating a chocolate sandwich. In these days of hyped up healthy eating-isms, chocolate is bad!

At some point, early in the year, I find myself explaining:

1. Our family chooses what is healthy; and although we respectfully listen to others, we make choices that work for our family.
2. Nutella is made with hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa, and has no preservatives and no artificial colors.
3. Nutella, while not a traditionally “healthy” food, has 190 calories and a total fat contact of 11g. A traditional or even “healthy” supermarket peanut butter may have the same number of calories but 16 g of fat and a lot more preservatives. Add jam to the peanut butter and….
4. It has no peanut products for those children who have peanut allergies.

Nutella is rich, creamy, and has a chocolaty flavor, with a hint of roasted hazelnuts makes it even more satisfying. And, if the Nutella website is to be believed, it is a “healthy part of a balanced breakfast”. So there.

Originally created by Italian baker, Pietro Ferrero when there was chocolate rationing in WWII, Nutella is now become a worldwide staple. In fact, the heirs to the spreadable empire are now the richest people in Italy.

Nutella is kind of like saying Kleenex when you want a tissue. This past year, we discovered that although the original recipe is a tightly guarded secret, one can find other spread makers and try it in many forms. I’ve tried a similar product created by Giraudi,called GiaCometta, that was sublime. In fact, the name GiaCometta originated as a chocolate-hazelnut confection/truffle from Turin. Apparently the concept of the chocolate spread started in the Piedmont area of Italy when the blockade ordered by Napoleon made it difficult to get any cocoa.

The major chocolate makers in Turin all have their personal hazelnut/chocolate recipes for a candy that is commonly known as gianduja. Even Nutella has slight variations in taste. We’ve discovered that the version in Italy is different than the one in the States. (Italy adds less sugar).

Nutella has come a long way from being a snobby European junk food. Now it can be found in most of the major American supermarkets as well as wholesale clubs. It has an almost cult following on the web. As of this writing, Nutella has a ridiculous number of sites on Facebook dedicated to it, the largest page with 3,236,513 fans. Many fancy bakers and caterers use Nutella in their recipes. It is considered a staple at creperies, and even Spago in Los Angeles has served it. The 4th annual world Nutella day will occur on February 5, 2010.

There are a myriad of ways to consume Nutella. The classic option is to simply spread it on bread, which is the approach that the Nutella website suggests. My favorite is with Grissini Torinesi, the thin breadsticks from Turin.

My husband Giuliano is working on a new book, and this past weekend we had friends over to taste test his new recipe for a Nutella ice cream; isn’t life great? Even the adults loved it, but the kids thought they were in heaven. Daughter Gabriella said, “it’s like chocolate ice cream with a twist! It’s really good”. What could be better after swimming in the pool than a bowl of cool, lush, smooth and creamy chocolate/hazelnut ice cream with just the right amount of sweetness? It was a wonderful indulgence.

So, please, let my kids have their Nutella and eat lunch in peace!

Nutella Ice Cream
Gelato di Nutella
from an upcoming book by Giuliano Hazan, 2009

2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
4 ounces (1/4 cup) Nutella

1. Put the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. When the milk is hot enough to release steam when stirred, but is not boiling, remove from the heat.
2. Break the eggs open and separate; reserve the whites for another purpose. Add the sugar and whip at high speed until you have a pale yellow, thick and creamy mixture.
3. Pour the hot milk into a pitcher or cup with a spout. Slowly add the milk to the egg and sugar mixture while whisking on low speed. Once half the milk is in you can begin to pour a little faster until all the milk is assimilated. Add the Nutella and whip on medium speed until it is all mixed in evenly.
4. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator. When it is cold, put it into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve right away, or you can keep it in the freezer for a few days before ice crystals will begin to form.

source:http://blogs.creativeloafing.com

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium eggplant
1 medium zucchini
Mozzarella Cheese (or sliced fresh mozzarella)
Parmesan Cheese
Marinara Sauce (homemade or Prego Three Cheese is gluten-free)

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Slice eggplant & zucchini.
3. Spread sauce in the bottom of a glass pyrex dish. Start to layer eggplant & zucchini and cheeses with sauce. Repeat until ingredients are gone.
4. Bake at least 30 minutes. Test the eggplant with a fork, it should be soft. Broil for a couple minutes to brown up the top.

**This recipe can be made with ricotta cheese too. That would make it more a meal, suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

Rubio's white sauce recipe

If you cannot get to Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, just cook up some of its tacos at home. Here's the white sauce that goes with the fish taco recipe.

Recipe:

• ½ cup of mayonnaise
• ½ cup of plain yogurt

Mix ‘em together and you got the white sauce that makes Rubio’s Fish Tacos legendarily delicious.

It’s extraordinary that something so blissful and heavenly could be so simple. Something that has brought joy to over 50 million customers only has two ingredients. The car: way more than 2 ingredients, the ball point pen: way more than two ingredients, even the Big Mac: way more than 2 ingredients. Rubio’s white sauce is beautiful in its simplicity. It inspires awe and mouthwatering delectable visions of divinity and holiness. It is the Rubio’s Fish Taco White Sauce. It is immortal. Make it. Spread it. Share it. Help it bring joy to the sad and food to the hungry.

original post: http://www.examiner.com

Baked lemon chicken recipe

I decided to branch out from my normal baking topics and experiment with a savory chicken dish. I have long been disappointed with lemon chicken recipes because they require so many hours of marinating and they are generally grilled recipes. I tend to prefer baked or roasted chicken dishes because they are easy and don’t require constant attention over a grill. I took one of my favorite chicken recipes, Chicken with White Wine and Grapes, and tweaked some things to create a Baked Lemon Chicken recipe. While baking the chicken makes cooking the chicken easier, the liquid it bakes in keeps the chicken moist and tasty.

The dish is great served over rice or egg noodles and is a great summer dinner because even though it’s hot, it’s light and lemony.

¼ cup AP flour
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp pepper
4 chicken breasts, cut in half
6 tablespoons butter
¼ cup chicken broth
¼ cup lemon juice
1 lemon, sliced
1 small onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons capers, (optional)

1. Mix together the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or plastic bag. Coat the chicken pieces in the flour, shaking off any excess.
2. Heat a medium large skillet on medium high heat with 3 tablespoons of butter.
3. Brown chicken pieces on both sides and then place in a large casserole dish.
4. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth and lemon juice and scrape off the bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining butter, onion and garlic. Place the lemon slices in the pan as well.
5. Sauté over medium heat until onions are soft. Pour sauce over chicken in casserole dish.
6. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 70 minutes or until cooked through.
7. Salt and pepper to taste. If desired, add capers to dish.

Note: Serve whole garlic cloves with chicken if desired.


original post: http://www.examiner.com

Baking 101: Which flour should I use in my recipe?

Flour is made with a range of hard and soft wheat, which influences how much protein the flour has. The higher the protein content, the tougher and stronger the baked product will be.

Those luscious Italian country breads are made with bread flour or gluten flour, two of the highest-protein flours.

Delicate cakes with a soft crumb are made with cake flour, one of the lowest-protein flours. Cakes lack the internal structure that well-made country breads have, and protein is one of the reasons. Here are some protein contents for common flours.

Bread: Twelve to 13 percent protein. Use it in pizza crusts and machine-made and traditional breads.

All-purpose: Nine to 12 percent protein. All-purpose is your everyday-use flour.

Self-rising: Nine to 11 percent protein. Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with baking powder added. Save money. Add your own baking powder.

Pastry: Eight to 9 percent protein. This blend is ideally suited to pie crust with its need for tenderness and structure.

Cake: Five to 8 percent protein. Use it for cakes and other delicate baked goods where a soft, fine crumb is needed.

Store it:

Flour lasts longest in the refrigerator or freezer, but who has room for it? The alternative is a cool, dark corner of your kitchen in an air-tight container. Buy what you need and use it fast to make sure your flour is always fresh. Whole wheat flour spoils much faster than white.

A note on bleaching:

Freshly milled flour is aged before it is packed and shipped. Before the introduction of chemical aging and bleaching agents, flour was stored for months until it had oxidized and lost some of its natural yellow pigment.

To make the aging process faster and more reliable, flour makers use potassium bromate and chlorine dioxide gas to remove pigments and make the protein more stable. Chemical bleaching reduces the amount of protein and removes some of the vitamin E naturally found in wheat products. Enriched flour replaces vitamins lost during the bleaching process. Unbleached flour has a buttery golden color but performs in recipes essentailly the same as bleached all-purpose flour.

Double chocolate butterscotch cookies recipe

These delicious treats blend the rich taste of butterscotch with the sweetness of chocolate for a heavenly treat. They are perfect for cookie exchanges, holiday parties, backyard barbecues or for ice cream sandwiches. Simply adjust the size of the cookie for the intended use.

Double Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

Makes: 3-4 dozen

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 11 minutes per batch

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

2 sticks of butter, softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons milk

2 1/2 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl cream brown sugar and butter until smooth and creamy.

3. Add in eggs, vanilla and milk. Blend well.

4. In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder.

5. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Stir well until combined.

6. Add butterscotch and chocolate chips. Mix well.

7. Drop by the teaspoon onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 11-12 minutes.

Recipe: Plum-Almond Galette

Active Work Time: 20 minutes

Total Preparation Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Galettes are carefree tarts. They are homey and casual and open to all kinds of improvisation. Because the plums are so much on display here, their sweetness is critical. Taste them and adjust the amount of sugar accordingly. They should be tart, but not bitingly so. If the fruit is extra ripe and juicy, scatter a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds between the crust and the fruit to absorb the moisture.

DOUGH

1 1/4 cups flour, plus more for kneading

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 to 3 tablespoons ice water

Grind the flour, almonds, sugar and salt in a food processor until the almonds are fine. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture is the texture of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the dry ingredients and pulse 4 or 5 times. If the mixture begins to come together, stop now. Otherwise, keep sprinkling the ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and pulsing until a dough begins to form.

Remove the dough from the food processor and quickly and lightly knead on a floured work surface into a solid mass. Press into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

1 pound plums (about 4), cut up

1 to 3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Combine the plums and the sugar in a work bowl and toss well to mix. Set aside at room temperature until the dough is chilled.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Drain any accumulated liquid from the plums. Spoon the plums into the center of the dough. Fold the outside 2 inches of the dough circle toward the center to make a hexagon, leaving the inner 4 or 5 inches of plums uncovered. Scatter the almonds across the plums, then scatter the coarse sugar over the plums and the pastry.

Bake until the pastry has browned and the plums are cooked through, about 30 minutes.

6 servings. Each serving: 336 calories; 255 mg sodium; 41 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 2.41 grams fiber.


source: http://www.wqad.com/la-fo-galette-s,0,4584515.story

iBartender iPhone App Review: Have cocktail recipes available no matter where you are

onesin’ for a cocktail? Not sure what to make with the random alcohol atop your refrigerator? No fear, the iBartender is here!

The iBartender app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a simple to-the-point cocktail reference application. You can quickly and easily find alcoholic drinks by name or, if you can’t remember the name, you can do a quick search of the ingredients to bring up tasty concoctions that contain the ingredient you’re looking for.

Once you find the drink you want in iBartender, you can quickly reference the ingredients and portions needed as well as the directions to make the drink like a true bartender. The recipes for many popular cocktails are included, with more being added to the iBartender app all the time. Can’t decide what you want to drink? Give your iPhone or iPod Touch a quick shake to let iBartender pick a random drink for you.

One of the neatest features of iBartender, I think, is the ability to email drink recipes. How would this come in handy? You know after all the drinks you plan on having, there’s no way you’re going to remember the green cocktail the bartender suggested to you that was out-of-this-world delicious. So you can quickly look it up on your iPhone and email the recipe to yourself, so that in your hangover state the next morning, you will be quickly reminded of the drink you need to stay away from next time you head to the bar with your friends! Also, it’s a great way to share a delicious cocktail with a friend far away, and let them know you’re thinking of them and their blood alcohol level as well.

iBartender is a great cocktail reference application for the iPhone. It does what it says and it does it well. The constant updates and the ability to email a drink recipe to yourself or a friend are great features that make iBartender stand out from the rest.

Cheers!

credit: http://www.examiner.com

Recipe for Sweet Potatoe Fries

This is a very healthy alternative to regular fries or even store bought sweet potato fries (there are no preservatives in these or trans fat). Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils to consume. Research has shown that olive oil helps lower bad cholesterol levels and raises good cholesterol levels, it helps prevent heart disease and cancer. Sweet potatoes are loaded with Vitamin A ( because Vitamin A is fat soluble most of is retained when cooking). Sweet potatoes are also loaded with other vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C (most of it is lost when cooking because it’s a water soluble vitamin), Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Vitamin B, Potassium, etc.

Ingredients:

• Sweet Potatoes cut into fries ( use a really sharp knife because they are very hard to cut through)
• Olive oil
• Season to taste with whatever seasoning you would like ( my favorite is salt free chili seasoning but thyme, basil, Real Salt, or whatever taste fine as well)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place fries into boiling water for about 2-3 minutes ( this will help them get a little crisper. Don’t let them get soft). Remove fries from water. Lightly coat fries with olive oil and seasoning of choice. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes turning a couple of times. Keep an eye on them because ovens vary.

credit: http://mindbodysmile.com/2009/07/31/recipe-for-sweet-potatoe-fries

Making ice cream, part 2: vanilla bean ice cream recipe

The first rule of making ice cream: have fun. Be creative. And if it doesn’t work out, that is okay. That is part of the learning process.

One way to flavor ice cream is with infusing. Ingredients are added to the dairy. The dairy mixture is then heated at a medium to medium high heat to release flavors into the dairy. This is similar to the way tea is steeped in hot water. The great thing about infusing is that you can make a variety of ice cream flavors with this method. Below is a vanilla bean ice cream recipe.

To make other flavors simply omit the vanilla beans and replace with desired ingredient. You can try to make flavors such mint with fresh mint leaves, or coffee using coffee grinds.

Recipe yields about 1 1/4 quart ice cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean

3/4 cup of sugar
6 large egg yolks
a pinch of salt

1. Pour dairy into a medium saucepan or pot (a 2-quart saucepan should do). Scrape the vanilla beans and place in pot on medium to medium high heat until dairy start to boil.

2. Mix egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a second bowl, whisking until pale yellow.

3. Slowly add the heated cream into the egg mixture, whisking together at the same time. (This technique is called tempering.) The continual whisking prevents the egg yolks from being cooked by the heated dairy.

4. Bring mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat. With a spatula (or wooden spoon) continue stirring the pot, scraping the bottom of the pot. Cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spatula. (If the ice cream base starts to curdle, and the base has not yet thickened, lower the heat.)

5. Strain and chill overnight.

6. Spin ice cream according to the instructions of the ice cream machine. When finished, place in an air tight containter and freeze for at least two hours or until set.

Variations: For coffee ice cream, omit the vanilla and add ½ cup of ground coffee beans. For cinnamon ice cream, omit vanilla and replace with one or two small cinnamon sticks, broken up.

Need an ice cream machine?

http://www.examiner.com/x-7888-SF-Dessert-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Making-ice-cream-part-2-vanilla-bean-ice-cream-recipe