Archive for December, 2008

French Yule Log–A Daring Baker Challenge

Monday, December 29th, 2008

yuleThis month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.  They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

I love being a Daring Baker…usually. But when I saw all 19 pages of this month’s recipe, I was a wee bit intimidated! Currently, I’m gluten, dairy, egg, corn, and soy free, and more recently, I’ve had to avoid sugar and grains, too. Given my limitations, sometimes I just make something for DH or friends, but I was doing so much cooking for other people I wanted something for ME.

Once I started thinking about it, it did seem (sort of) doable. The required elements are:hazcake
1) Dacquoise Biscuit
2) Mousse
3) Ganache Insert
4) Praline (Crisp) Insert
5) Creme Brulee Insert
6) Icing

I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the creme brulee without dairy, eggs, soy or sugar, so I confess, I left it out. I know it was required…but with all of my limitations, 5 out of 6 ain’t bad. Everything else was there, at least in spirit.

ganache

I must say, I had pretty low expectations. I’d been fighting a bug most of December, and it got pushed off till the last minute. And yet, everything turned out beautifully, and I would definitely do it again, or parts of it.  It ended up tasting a lot like ice cream cake, and it traveled down beautifully in a cooler.  All I would have done differently is leaving layers to freeze longer so that the layers had a lot more differentiation.  I would have made more chocolate icing, too!  I brought it along with me to NC, and way underestimated the amount of chocolate I’d need.  Since the stores were closed, I just drizzled the icing on rather than making a cohesive coating.

cyule

Since I had so little time and no clue of what I was doing, I don’t have recipes.  I did write down the dacquoise recipe (picture above) but (by itself) it wasn’t very good.  The mousse is a mix of young coconut, hazelnut, cocoa powder, agave, cinnamon, pineapple and chia whipped in my Vitamix.  I almost chickened out on the crisp insert, then reminded myself that I am a DARING baker and made a hazelnut meal/agave/chia/mesquite crispy cracker-ich layer.  The ganache (picture above on right) was baker’s chocolate with thick hazelnut cream and vegetable glycerine, and the icing was baker’s chocolate, glycerine and almond oil.

So it just goes to show how nice it is to go out on a limb, be daring and try something new!  I’m so glad that most of the DB challenges have been do-able, especially considering the number of restrictions I have.   I would like to play with the veganized agar frosting version in the future, and plan to make this into a faux ice cream cake next time.  Thanks so much to our brave leaders, and bring on the next one, baby!

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Posted in daring bakers, dessert | 14 Comments »

Menu Plan Monday Dec 22nd

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

holiday

As you can see, things have been busy at Chez Harris. I always end up baking more than I mean to, and this year is no exception. I’m glad that I’ve avoided huge excess, though! This week was a Chocolate Orange Cake, rugelach (yummy but totally oozed), chocolate covered pom, chocolate covered dried fruit, chocolate covered clementines (perhaps you are detecting a pattern…) and fruit and nut bars. We ate food, too, including a Summertime Salad, and since I’m fighting a cold I think I had soup every day!

This week we’ll be traveling, and I’m glad for the opportunity to figure out what we’ll be eating so I’m not scrambling last minute. Our food of the week are cranberries, and our host is the fabulous Angela of Angela’s Kitchen.

Monday:
Roast turkey breast with roasted peppers

Tuesday:
Garlicky quinoa with broccoli

Weds:
Salmon or curry lentil soup (Amy’s) with veg TBD
Roasted cauliflower–it’s a great car food, no idea why.

Thursday:
Monday’s turkey breast which will be frozen and trucked along with us, along with celery in a chestnut sauce and hopefully cranberry relish, too.

Friday:
Avocado and Tomato and Sorrel soup (from my freezer)

Baked goods:
the DB challenge. Regretfully, it didn’t happen last week
Chocolate chestnut cake

This week’s goal is not to get any speeding tickets. I pointed out to my DH yesterday that every time we go to NC, we get a ticket. He was kind enough to mention that last time, no tickets, but we got rear ended. I think perhaps that no driving drama is a better goal. I hope everyone has a great

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Everything just tastes better when covered in chocolate

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

chocpomI’ve had been under the weather this month, necessitating some ingenuity to whip up some tasty allergen friendly treats that are super easy to make. My three favorites? Chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, chocolate covered clementines and pistachio brittle (pumpkin seed brittle, just sub in pistachios). Easy, elegant, low stress, and huge on taste. Vegan and top 8 allergen free too! Totally my style.clem

I don’t know where I first got the idea of coating pom seeds with chocolate, but I couldn’t resist giving it a try, and it couldn’t be easier! The idea for dipping clementines is from a grad school friend, Michelle, who is an amazing hostess.

If you’re not a huge pom fiend, you should be. IMHO, they’re the yummiest winter fruit and chock full of antioxidants and, of course, flavor. According to Greek mythology, we’re stuck with winter because Persephone, daughter of the goddess of the Harvest was kidnapped and taken off to the underworld. She was miserable, and didn’t eat but couldn’t resist pom seeds! Rules are if you eat in the underworld, you stay. So when she is stuck “down there” we’re all stuck up here with winter, as the goddess of the harvest is mourning. Now here I thought I didn’t learn anything in junior high. Funny what sticks in your head.

Giving recipes for these is almost a joke, but here goes! Melt chocolate. Add fruit. Allow to cool. Accept compliments and smile.

Here’s a bit more detail:
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
3 oz bittersweet chocolate

Heat chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 sec (it takes about 2 min total). A double boiler works too, but I’m WAY too lazy. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Stir in pom seeds thoroughly, drop onto wax paper or muffin liners. Allow to cool at room temp. You can put them in the fridge but they won’t look as nice.

I didn’t measure the amount of chocolate for the clementines, but I dipped one half in semi sweet and allowed them to cool on wax paper.
WHB is the baby of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and now our kind hostess is Haalo. Did you see her cherry coconut slice? Looks delish!

Have a relaxing and delicious holiday season!!!

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Posted in dessert, recipe, weekend herb blogging | 8 Comments »

Summer Lovin’ salad

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

simple-salad

I’m a springtime and summer kinda gal, and the winter months tend to get me down.  This salad is small a taste of summertime goodness to remind me of what I’m (eventually) looking forward to!  And this was such a bright and sunny day, too.

This non-recipe is very simple, and uses arugula from my (mini) indoor garden and roasted tomatoes that I made and roasted this summer.

3 cups arugula leaves
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (may not be needed if your tomatoes are packed in oil)
juice of half a lemon or balsamic vinegar to taste
black pepper and sea salt to taste
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 avocado, sliced
handful of roasted tomatoes, chopped or whole

Mix arugula, oil, salt, pepper, and lemon. Add other ingredients on top and enjoy! Best if eaten in the first hour of preparing, otherwise the arugula gets soggy.

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Posted in recipe, vegetables | 2 Comments »

Menu Plan Monday Dec 15th

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

I love this week’s theme: nuts and seeds! Honestly, I eat a jinormous quantity of both and can’t imagine life without them. Nutritious, full of fiber, portable, easy…very few days go by without me eating nuts! And almost all of my recipes have them, because I’m such a big fan. So a big thanks to In My Box for hosting this week’s menu plan.

This week is much like week’s past–trying to balance all of the holiday excitement with the need for sleep! I’ve decided to do much less baking this year and I’m very glad. However, I’m still making rugelach, a chocolate orange cake, the Daring baker challenge (I almost hyperventilated when I read it), chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, peppermint meringues and fruit and nut bars. I guess I’m not taking it that easy.

Many of the nights we’ll be out, so I have little time to cook and so meals will be pretty simple:

Monday:
Nightshade skillet meal with broccoli

Tuesday:
Beef curry or beef in a Thai coconut sauce

Weds:
Roasted Tomato soup with caramelized onion (from my freezer) and an avocado

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:
Baked salmon and asparagus

To celebrate our weekly theme, I’ll be making a gingerbread out of almond flour…mmmm…..

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Mini Menu Plan and Holiday Tips

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Genghis and Houdini have the right idea, and I’m motivated to take a nap along with them.

It has been one of those weeks.  One of those months?  You get the idea.  I’ve put together a gob of good holiday info, including a newsletter with holiday hints, cookie recipes from last year’s GF cookie exchange and a list of naturally GF desserts.

However, more has been happening on my computer than in my kitchen.  I did post a recipe for Spiced Forbidden Black Rice pudding, which totally rocks (IMHO), but aside from that, not much happening!

This upcoming week will likely be more of the same, but I am working on perfecting artisanal style GF/dairy free/grain free rolls.  I love the smell…and once they’re perfect, or as close as I can get ‘em, you’ll here more.

Manda, our lovely host for this week, has selected “bitter” as our weekly flavor.  She gets points for creativity! I’ve got that covered pretty easily.  I actually love eating baking chocolate.  Plain.  That’s about as bitter as it gets, and hopefully will throw in a chicken dish with rosemary and olives, too.

Monday:

Curried Turkey with roasted cauliflower

Tuesday:
Quinoa TBD

Wednesday:
Chicken mole in a crockpot…we’ll see how that goes.

Thursday:
Steak and peppers

Friday:
Lazy day Tilapia with steamed peppers

Baked good:
Rolls
Almond spice cookies

Posted in cat pictures, menu plan | 10 Comments »

Spiced Forbidden Rice Pudding

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

A rice pudding fit for an empress…

As the story goes, forbidden rice was reserved for the emperor. I’m not sure I can blame him for not wanting to share! If you taste it, you’ll understand. It’s gloriously, indulgently purple, and got a distinctive chew and taste to it.

I’ve made this pudding for years, but rarely, because it took hours to get good and soft. Then it occurred to me that I could just soak it overnight, and get the same consistency in much less time.

Coconut is what makes this a totally indulgent, creamy treat. There’s a lot of debate about coconut, the saturated fat and health, and you can find people on both sides of the issue. If you’re counting calories, you can do it with almond hazelnut nut milk and drizzle with coconut milk at the end, and it tastes almost as good. I’m somewhat tempted to try it with chai tea instead of water and see how that goes.

Also, remember to count the cardamom pods when you put them in so that it’s easier to remove them afterwards! Cardamom gives delightful flavor, but not so much when you bite into it. Trust me.

2 cups coconut milk, hazelnut or almond milk, divided
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup of Chinese black rice (AKA forbidden rice)
1/4-1/3 cup agave nectar (or palm sugar)
8-10 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
chopped crystallized ginger for garnish

Soak 1 cup of rice overnight. Rinse and drain (don’t worry about getting all the water out). Add 1 1/2 cups of water , 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, the agave, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. Keep at a low simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 min or so. When it’s a delightfully soft mush, you’re good to go.

Remove spices and serve, drizzling each portion with a tablespoon or so of coconut milk and chopped ginger. Enjoy with a side of mango, pineapple, raspberries, or sorbet.

If you have leftovers, give me a ring! Or freeze it, it does freeze well..

This is my submission to “Go Ahead, Honey, it’s GF”. November’s edition is about foods from childhood, and our lovely host is Noosh of For the love of food. Rice pudding reminds me of my grandpa, although it was nothing like this. However, this pudding is like a big hug to me, and so it seems to fit the theme.

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Posted in dessert | 13 Comments »