First things first:

We’re going to BlogHer Food in SF this September! It will be the first blogging event we’ll go to, so we’re very excited. See you there? :)

Last weekend, the sun shone and it was beginning to get too hot for comfort in the house that there’s really no other thing I’d rather make with Fage yogurt** than strawberry fro-yo. I may be the most boring and redundant frozen yogurt maker, because I’ve posted about the same (yawn) flavor twice last year and coincidentally, around the same time, too! Can you blame me? I really truly believe that with a 2-cup tub of Fage, strawberries, some sort of sweetener and an ice cream maker, it’s HARD to get it wrong.

After I made this, just to spite me, you know what the weather gods gave us? Gray skies, rain (downpour!), aaand sunshine with hail. Snow would have completed the whole package, but that’s enough, thanks. I know you–yes, you Weather Guy up there!–made your point that Vancouverites can’t rejoice over good weather that much, but we still love it!

For the ‘recipe’, I just relied on my own ratio of:

one container of Fage : (maximum of) one Fage container of other liquids

[Speaking of ratios, I'll be talking about Michael Ruhlman's book called Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking this weekend. In a gist: I highly recommend it so go grab a copy!]

First, I made a simple syrup by heating 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water, then added about 1 1/3 cup of strawberry puree***, 2 tablespoons honey, and a teaspoon of lemon juice and cooked it until it looked like this:

I cooled it in the fridge for 30 minutes before blending all the cold ingredients with a hand mixer in a big bowl:  yogurt, sweetened strawberry puree, and 2 tablespoons of half and half light cream. Put it in your ice cream maker and churn it for 30-35 minutes, or until thick enough. Pour in a freezer-safe container.

One advantage of having a mother who shops for all sorts of things are finds like the thick metal fresh ice cream container that is so darn cute.

Freezing and letting the frozen yogurt ‘rest’ overnight is best for flavor and texture.

I couldn’t wait to eat it the next day. No suave scooping here; it was more like painful excavation of hard rock because I didn’t thaw it enough. I just took a few shots and devoured my sweet reward, despite of the soup it turned into.

Not a problem, I love ice cream soup!

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** After having used the different fat percentages of Fage, the 2% is still the best for fro-yo, in my opinion.

*** I didn’t strain the seeds out this time. I like the ‘character’ it adds to the ice cream. I don’t mind the seeds at all, but you can remove it if you like.

It’s not too late to sign up for the Christmas Snail Mail. Go clickety-click!

I think I should start by saying that these are all gone. I baked them the previous night and between me and my brother, we finished all 8 of them in less than 24 hours. I thought 8 was too many and enough to share outside of the house. Either we were hungry or these were really good. Hah!

Most of you know by now that I love tinkering with a good recipe. It doesn’t matter what you tell me, I just will. I blame it really on my university “training” where we were not spoon-fed at all and we basically had to live by the “find your own creative means” mantra to get the end results. In the beginning this was something I detested because hey, I just got out of a sheltered private Catholic high school life and I’m being thrown into the lion’s den. I eventually loved it…thrived in it. And now here we are. Unless there’s no leeway (e.g. following instructions for a camera), I will tweak to my heart’s content. It does not satisfy me to just do what’s been done. I like to play, especially with food. Cooking has satisfied my creative hunger (pun hehe) like no other. And I get fed, too. :-)

SOOO… (good lord I babble a lot), when I saw Elle’s corn muffins, there was no question that when I make them I will mess with them. [Sorry, hun.] She used Gale Gand’s Featherlight Muffins recipe. I noticed that that the tops looked soft, and I would like them a bit harder, but not too hard that it will scrape the roof of my mouth. When I checked the ingredient list I got a bit worried about the mere half cup of sugar for a cup of flour. I didn’t think that was enough sweetness for me, so I added honey to add a little more. Plus I increased the temperature to 400°F to hopefully give that little crisp at the top which I just love about muffins.

I wanted to make ones like the Kenny Rogers corn muffins, which I really, really love, but we didn’t have corn nibblets. Hmph. To remedy this need for another ingredient and to further experiment, I added crumbled aged creamy cheddar cheese to just four of the muffins.

You’ll see melted cheese peeking on the right muffin, which has it. The left one is ‘plain’.

The ones with cheese are so incredibly good!!! And you know what? I would like to have more and bigger chunks of cheese next time. Yum, yum. Stick with good cheese, though.

I waited for the muffins to bake until it started to brown on the sides, which took about 17 minutes and 30 seconds [no really!]:

The brown part that you see? I always eat that the last. Yummers!

Here’s my army of eight that have dutifully served their duty to feed and be delicious:

I used tart shells because I didn’t realize that there are no muffin pans at my parents’ house. Hrmm.

Okay, so here’s the verdict on my little experiment:

Good things about these muffins: A delicious muffin top that’s worth the last bite for and it’s not too hard either, I’d say they were crunchy/chewy. Soft, dense (but not too much that you get full with one muffin), creamy and I could almost say “cushion-y” muffin body that is so, so nice to bite into, you won’t feel like you’re eating it just to get to the “top” — ‘know what I mean? They are GOOD. I like the sweetness of this — it’s perfect for me. The cheese is a really nice touch and I won’t make them without next time. Make this as a breakfast treat and people will be running to the kitchen to wait — no, DEMAND — for them, because not only are they so divine to the olfactory senses plus they live up to the aromatic hype. I can still remember how they smelled right out of the oven!  MMMMMM….yummm. Can’t wait to make the next batch tonight!

Bad thing about these muffins: You’ll be able to finish them in a wink. I could have easily eaten ALL of them by myself.

Ok, on to the almost step-by-step photos and recipe.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I’ll post the PDF recipe tomorrow done!, which is going to be our blog’s FIRST YEAR. I still can’t believe it’s that old.

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What could be better?

I love butter. I want my butter all fat and all full of flavor. Give me real creamy butter or deprive me of it. I won’t hold high anything in between.

For a person who loves butter this much, you’d think I’d try to make it sooner. But neither did I know I could, nor how. As with a lot of things, it’s more special when it happens at the right time. (Haha…I crack myself up.) This butter would not be here if we did not have leftover heavy cream that we did not want to consume in one sitting of strawberry with crepes. I don’t know, I just didn’t want it to go to the dairy purgatory and find out later we have a bad cream. And it was such a nice “experiment” with excellent results.

I remembered reading about people putting heavy cream in a gallon bottle and shake it until the butter forms. We don’t have that kind of bottle and I wasn’t about to labor for it that long. I also read that you can use your hand mixer and I can deal with that. So the cream transformed from this:

To this:

To something that resembles butter, which I thought would never come:

Then into butter AND liquid (I read in some places that this is buttermilk):

Oh, hello!!!

And it went right into my toast.

I will add that I only got a bite of this because before I knew it, Dan finished it.

And what did I do with the remaining liquid (buttermilk?)? I used it to soak chicken tenders. Nothing’s wasted.

If you’re up for it, here’s you need to make (unsalted) butter:

• Heavy cream
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Deep bowl (the liquid will start to splatter once the butter starts forming)

And all you need to do is beat the cream until butter forms. For about 10 minutes, I think. I lost track of time. You’ll see the yellow butter form. Don’t stop the first time you see it. Mix it further for about 5 minutes until the solids separate in clumps from the liquid. After that, you just need to squeeze out the liquid (I used clean hands) and transfer it to a container or measure it out in tablespoons or cups as you wish.

You can also put the butter in a separate mixing bowl and add salt and whatever spices and herbs you like, then roll it in parchment paper. I think homemade butter would be perfect for making butter with herbs.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TASTE of homemade butter? SO GOOD. I might have to make butter for our toasts from now on. It’s worth the effort, definitely.

[Alternate Titles for This Post: How To Recycle An Old Favorite or How To Coax Your Boyfriend To Eat What He Doesn't Like]

We absolutely loved this simple dessert of Apples in Honey and Pine Nut Caramel and have made it on more than one occasion. So one morning, with one too many apples forgotten, I finally used them with the a variation of the recipe to top off the breakfast oatmeal. I skipped the cream and pine nuts (because we didn’t have either, honestly) and decided to stick to just butter and honey. Mmmm.

I cooked old fashioned organic oatmeal in whole milk. God I love that. I made sure not to overcook it.

This was a winning combination. Yumm.

You might be wondering about the second alternate title. Well, Dan dislikes oatmeal. It’s one of those things on his long Will Not Eat list. This does not sit too well with me as I’m pretty open to all kinds of food and when I travel, I try as much local fare as I can. Food, as in life, is an experience — and for me, you’re missing out if you don’t at least try new things or revisit old ‘ew’ stuff labeled from the days you couldn’t even spell your name.

So slowly, I’ve began to lead him into a new chapter in his Foodie life and have him retry food that he ‘hates’. He cringes when you mention “oatmeal”, “mushrooms”, “cabbage”, or “bananas” as if he was going to be sick at that instant. From the mere mention of the food. I told him that if he tries it again and still hates it, then fine. But to completely shun them would be a shame. There’s a whole world out there outside of steak, pasta, and potatoes. Come to think of it, it’s like training a child to eat veggies, really. Haha.

One thing about food aversion is that most of the time, it’s just the way it’s been prepared that brings out certain detestable qualities. Other times, you went to the wrong restaurant. When it comes to oatmeal, I found out that Dan doesn’t like the ‘mushiness’ of it, just like how bananas are mushy. And I completely understand that because I hate both mushy oatmeal and bananas. However, that only comes out when you overcook oatmeal and if you use the the instant ones. Even I find it gross. So I remedied that and cooked it my way — not overdone, and with whole grains to munch on. He really liked it! Plus he finished his bowl of cereal with fruit.  Bingo!

I’d say I have a feeding success rate of 80% when it comes to something “different”. So for those who are challenged by their boyfriends, husbands, or even little ones, I’ll share you with a few tips.

What I learned about feeding the (well-loved) ultra-picky eater:

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I spent my college years watching Sex & The City with my girlfriends. SATC night was a bonding session that involved food and lots of laughter. Those were memorable times. :-) It shouldn’t be a surprise that I watched it the first night it came out, and I dragged Dan to the show, too! After the movie, I was hankering for a cosmo (haha). Having had margaritas earlier that night, I settled for a non-alcoholic light, sweet and tangy peach frozen yogurt served in a martini glass, of course. This was a perfect night cap. [Yes, I'm a hopeless midnight-snacker.]

I used 2% Fage greek yogurt for this treat. It was very refreshing and I’m happy to say that it’s another one of my yogurt concoctions that’s approved by Dan. The one-quart batch is almost gone!

What flavor(s) should we try next? Any suggestions?

Here’s the recipe for you to try: Continue Reading

Can you say that in one go? It refers to this mouthful of flavor-packed and devilishly smooth sensation of strawberry and honey brought to you in a creamy yogurt base, and you won’t even know that last part if nobody told you. It’s even better than our previous frozen creations — whether yogurt- or cream-based — better in flavor and texture. It’s definitely up there in the hankering-meter for both Dan and I.

We like getting feedback and ideas from all of you — it encourages us to experiment and tell you the delicious incarnations we’ve discovered. This is how this honey-strawberry variation came about. When Jen, an old pal from way back, asked about using honey with our recipe here, I just had to try it and find out the results firsthand. Or first spoonful, I guess, because that set off a multiple series of others. It was simply delectable. I fully blame the honey and the full-fat Greek yogurt that I accidentally bought. I previously used Fage Total 0% [PRONOUNCED Fa'-yeh] and had stellar results, so I didn’t think I was missing out on anything. Clearly, as Dan pointed out to me several times over the course of finishing this batch, that accidental mistake was a a great thing. Given my track record, my mistakes often end up as acts of genius in the kitchen, and elsewhere — the cosmos has a way of straightening me out. This time, I’d lightly pat myself on the back for giving this a try. [Note: I checked the Fage website and the Fage Total classic I used here was made from milk and cream.]

One snag in this honey-strawberry experiment was, and I think your inner honey-minions should take note of, the change in color color…to dirty pink. It’s easily remedied with a drop of red liquid food coloring.

Hmm…all this talk of frozen yogurt doesn’t seem right at the moment because my toes are cold from winter-like conditions here in AZ. We had a weather hiccup, and temperatures dropped from 110ºF to the 50º’s. Yes, you read that right. However, I thought it best to still post this for those of you suffering sweltering heat.

I hope you try it! Include it in your Memorial Day menu, if you like. This could very well be the reason you purchase that Cuisinart frozen yogurt/ice cream maker you’ve been eyeing. ;-) Here’s the recipe:

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When I saw the photo for this on the May 2008 Gourmet magazine, I knew I had to make it. How can I resist cheese? I’ve also been meaning to get into bread-making. I thought this would be a good start. Yes, I’ve made cinnamon rolls so many times, but it’s time to move on and progress towards my goals of baking a good French bread and soft pretzels.

This recipe was not one to disappoint as you can see. It smelled and tasted so good, and it has that rustic look and texture, it made us feel like we’re in the country as we drooled over it:

The dough was a bit of challenge to work with, I should warn you (or it could just be me, really). For my first time, I think I did good. I ‘cheated’ and used a rolling pin to flatten it out, instead of using just my hands. Having refrigerated the dough overnight, I was faced with a really tough dough.

You might be wondering how the cheese got ingrained in there. The two kinds of coarsely grated cheeses (I used havarti and fresh mozzarella chopped in the food processor) are lumped into one big ball — and you might cry when you realize the amount of cheese in there as you hold it, but carry on because this really is one mightily awesome food to reach your mouth — but as I was saying, so the ball is placed in the middle of the slightly flattened dough, then it’s wrapped and ‘tied’ at the top, then pushed back down to spread into an 11-inch disk. Makes sense? That was the most challenging part for me.

It’s baked for 10 minutes, then sprayed with olive oil and baked for another 3 minutes to brown. And then you’ll be rewarded with this:

I’m killing you now, aren’t I? Please, dig in!

You know what else you can use this dough for?

Pizza! Yup, I made this with parmesan, mozza, and turkey bacon. Great for snacks. The dough is comparable to the frozen pizza doughs you can buy, and reminiscent of Pizza Hut’s P-zone’s dough. Not too shabby since this doesn’t take a lot of effort as the other pizza dough recipes I’ve seen (and have been scared with).

Alright, after taunting you, here’s the the recipe:  [And Happy Friday!]

GEORGIAN CHEESE BREAD

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1/4-oz package) active dry yeast
• 7 tablespoons warm water (105-115°F)
• 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 lb Havarti cheese, coarsely grated
• 1/4 lb fresh mozzarella, coarsely grated (add 1/2 tsp salt)
• olive oil (for spraying or brushing)

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in a tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)
2. Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form dough.
3. Transfer dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, and then knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let the dough rest in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.
4. Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle. Turn out dough onto floured pizza pan. Turn to coat. Flatten with your fingers into a 7-inch disk.
5. Toss together cheeses and compact them into a 3-inch ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around ball of cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with a damp fist to press cheese out from center. Continue to flatten dough and distribute cheese evenly, pressing outward from center, until dough is an 11-inch disk.
6. Cut a 6-inch X through top of dough to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Brush/spray surface of dough with olive oil and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more. Serve cut into wedges.

Notes

Dough can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in bowl (for a slow rise), covered with plastic wrap. Punch down and bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.

If you are using a perforated pizza pan, be sure to have a baking sheet on the rack underneath it when you bake the bread. There might be cheese dripping through the holes. On that note, the cheese might burn so be ready for a smoky oven (and kitchen, and house…).

The cheese bread reheats well in the microwave for 20 seconds.

** May 14, ERRATUM [Or where I say -- I'm so sorry!]: There was an error with the recipe I posted yesterday. The sugar and the water were lumped together under the list of ingredients. It’s supposed to be 1 cup sugar, then 5/8 cup water I’ve updated the PDF recipe as well.

In other parts of North America, it’s starting to warm up. Here in Arizona, the summer weather has already crashed the spring party with a blazing 100ºF (or 37ºC). I grew up in a tropical country (Philippines) but even this temperature is taking its toll on this South Eastern gal — super dry skin, lovely migraines, and it makes me feel super lazy (less movement = less heat). Ack. To combat this overall feeling of ick, I whipped out the ice cream maker and got this going last night:

Churning inside is a mixture of Greek yoghurt, a teensy bit of real milk (I always tease Dan about him buying skim milk, which I don’t fancy at all), pureed fresh strawberries, simple syrup, a touch of lemon and vanilla.

We don’t usually make yoghurt ice cream. However, I was inspired by Veg SF‘s recipe based on David Lebovitz‘s and her better-than-Pinkberry results with Greek yoghurt. I’ve never tasted Pinkberry, but with the news out there that this too-good-to-be-true source of the West Coast’s oooh’s and ahhhh’s is actually not that natural, I’d rather make my own and know everything that goes in it.

When we started making ice cream last year, we followed the instructions on the Cuisinart booklet — down to the high fructose corn syrup. If you’ve read Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”, you cringe as much as I do hearing/reading those four words. I stayed away from that and opted to make a thick simple syrup instead. Everything (except for the sugar) in this smooth frozen goodness is both natural and organic:

For those non-plussed about yoghurt, let me just say that Dan (the resident yoghurt-eww-er in the household) loved it. So did I.

I guess that’s what’s good about living with someone picky about food. It challenges me to stretch boundaries and look for alternatives which end up being better than if I just followed the straight and oft-taken path. Instead of just using yoghurt and sugar, I added milk and made simple syrup to add creaminess, smoothness and an even sweet taste.

You can also drizzle it with melted chocolate to satisfy the chocoholic in you:

And now for the recipe:

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Pause. Breathe deep. And behold a remarkably rich and creamy mac n’ cheese that’ll have you smitten:

And the good thing is, we didn’t even have to lift a finger in preparing it! Dan’s mom, Mary Anne, baked it as part of Easter dinner at their house, and we took some home. Woohoo! What can I say — she spoils the family good. :-)

The recipe she used was from one of the finalists on Emeril’s Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever Challenge, Princess Thompson, who described this as — ‘…the right mixture of love and cheese and once you taste you’ll want to Smack Yo Mamma and say, “Why didn’t you ever make macaroni and cheese like this?“‘

It was awesome. I still remember taking my first mouthful. Wow.

Go make ‘em before you get a smackin’ from your friends and family! Here’s the recipe: Continue Reading

Quiche used to be one of those foods that I had no opinion of — I neither like nor hate it. Just so-so. I’ve never had one that sent sparks flying until I took a bite of my own the other day. I know it’s extremely biased to say that, but considering how hypercritical I am of my cooking and calling anything sub-par as ‘failures’, please bear with me on this.

I have never made quiche and haven’t had the inkling to make one. This changed decades later when I saw the crustless quiche in the March 2008 issue of Gourmet (page 84). I instantly envisioned my own tasty fluffy egg-y goodness in ramekins:

A couple of minutes out of the oven, with the poofy top now sunk in.

I was inspired to make them in serving size containers, which should be just the right amount for me and Dan. I coated the ramekins with corn flake crumbs, lined the bottom with leftover corned beef (from Monday’s dinner) that was sauteed with white onion and celery. Then came the topping of shredded Colby Jack cheese. Finally, the egg-milk-cream mixture sealed it to make quiche. The result was beyond divine:

Love at first bite.

The sweet scent of sauteed onion, celery, and corned beef lingered in the kitchen while these were baking, so I was expecting a good treat after 25 minutes. Digging into the just-out-of-the-oven steaming quiche released a comforting aroma that surpassed all my expectations. The first bite was indescribable. Wow — did I really make this?! It was light and soft, the eggs were perfectly, perfectly cooked. The ‘filling’ was oh so happy to be melded in the cheese and egg and milk. Just…wonderful. I think Dan and I have now been “converted” from being unimpressed with quiche to loving quiche.

I learned a lesson the day I made my first quiche: Don’t walk away from a dish until you’ve tried making it at home. The freshness of the ingredients and the dish itself, and the joy of cooking, make a huge difference. Yes, there might be few mistakes every now and then, but that’s what makes it a great adventure!

If you love quiche, try this and let me know what your quiche-connoisseur taste buds think. If you never liked quiche, are still on the fence, and/or would like to try it, I honestly think this might make you change your mind. And it’s so simple to make, too!

Here’s the visual step-by-step guide:

On to the recipe:

POST ST. PATTY’S CRUSTLESS QUICHE

Yields 3 small ramekin servings

Ingredients – can be easily doubled

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus additional (softened) butter for coating the sides of the ramekin
• corn flake crumbs for coating the sides of the ramekin
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup cooked corned beef, diced
• 9 tablespoons Colby jack cheese, shredded
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
2. With a cooking brush, thinly coat the sides of the ramekins with softened butter. Add about a tablespoon of cornflake crumbs then rotate the ramekin to spread the crumbs and let them adhere to the butter on the sides. Tap awaw and remove excess crumbs..
3. Sauté onions and celery in a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Add corned beef, and sauté for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat then divide and spread on the bottom of each ramekin.
4. Top with 3 tablespoons of cheese for each ramekin. Spread evenly.
5. Whisk together eggs, cream, milk, and 1/2-teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Pour into each ramekin.
6. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until top is golden and custard is set in center, about 25 minutes.
7. Slightly cool before serving.

Notes

• This is a fantastic “basic” recipe that you can alter with your own ingredients for the filling – fish, poultry, beef, vegetables, including your leftovers!
• You can easily double the recipe to fill a 10-inch quiche dish or 10-inch glass pie plate. Bake for 25-30 minutes.